2022 Southwest Ag Summit Presentation: Water & Salt Balance

Quantitative Assessments of Water & Salt Balance for Cropping Systems in Lower Colorado River Irrigation Districts, an ongoing collaborative research project coordinated by the University of Arizona’s Yuma Center of Excellence for Desert Agriculture (YCEDA), is measuring the precise amount of water today’s crops use and studying the impacts of irrigation, crop rotation and fallowing on soil salinity. Members of the project team presented a research update at the 2022 #SWAG. Paul Brierley, YCEDA Executive Director, begins the presentation with an overview of the project. Dr. Andrew French, USDA Research Scientist, and Dr. Charles Sanchez, UArizona Research Scientist and Professor, discuss data collection, analytics, and current research findings. Toby Torrey, UArizona Communications and Cyber Technologies Web and Development Program Director, presents DesertAgWISE, a web application in development using the unique dataset to provide farmers a desert-specific WISE (Water Irrigation Soil Environment) management tool to optimize production efficiencies.