Support for Landowners

By Kris Polly

In our cover story with Norman Vigil, the chairman of the Upper Chama Soil and Water Conservation District, we hear about how his agency helps northern New Mexico producers save water and resources, protect the landscape, and preserve the agricultural economy of the area. Amid the effects of climate change, landowners are working to upgrade irrigation systems, support local acequias, and improve watershed health.

Jesus Flores was born into the agricultural world of Hidalgo County, Texas, and since 1976, he has given 50 years of service to the board of directors of the Engelman Irrigation District, having served as president, vice president, secretary, consultant, and advisor. In our interview, he looks back on his accomplishments, discusses the changes that have occurred in the area over the past five decades, and discusses how this small irrigation district has become a strategically minded hybrid agricultural-municipal water supplier.

Next, we turn to another innovative hybrid irrigation district, this one in Northern California. The El Dorado Irrigation District serves a now largely residential customer base with water while also providing wastewater, recycled water, hydropower, and recreation services across 220 square miles. In our interview with General Manager Pravani Vandeyar and Director of Engineering Jon Money, we discuss the Sly Park Intertie Improvements Project, which will link two upstream watersheds, providing the district with critical supply redundancy.

After that, we speak with John Lauletta, the business development manager for the industrial market for liner manufacturer AssetGuard. He touts GroundGuard, the company’s durable, U.S.‑manufactured liner product, and its benefits for canal lining; then, he tells us about his experiences getting out, meeting irrigation district personnel around the West, and learning from them about their needs.

Technology company UpTerra has developed TerraFlow, a device that restructures irrigation water and imbues it with biomimicry frequencies to which plants react as if they are chemical nutrients. Increasing infiltration and uptake, it makes water work better. With an easy installation process and a hands-on approach to customer service, UpTerra aims to help farmers be more effective in their mission of sustainably raising food.

Our readers might be surprised to learn that no-till farming— considered a progressive practice in the United States, but accounting for less than one-third of cropland—is used on 90 percent of farmland in Argentina. To learn more about how this came to be, we interview Marcelo Torres, the president of the Argentine No-Till Farmers Association.

Finally, we interview Glen Vortherms, the general manager of the Maricopa Water District, which has been supplying water in Arizona’s West Valley since 1925. In that time, the area has undergone heavy urbanization, and today, irrigated agriculture persists mostly in designated areas surrounding Luke Air Force Base. Adapting to this, the district has diversified into recreational services and water transportation.

Irrigated agriculture in this country must deal with a variety of trends and pressures, including residential development, increased water supply variability, drought, and soil erosion. This issue highlights a number of responses to these challenges, including hybrid water supply strategies, watershed intertie projects, canal lining and other infrastructure upgrades, novel technologies, and innovative cropping methods. With the aid of longtime industry leaders, such as Jesus Flores, who have observed and grappled with such trends over decades of service, our irrigated agriculture industry can learn to adapt and succeed in the years to come.

Kris Polly is the editor-in-chief of Irrigation Leader magazine and the president of Water Strategies LLC, a government relations firm he began in February 2009 for the purpose of representing and guiding water, power, and agricultural entities in their dealings with Congress, the Bureau of Reclamation, and other federal government agencies. He may be contacted at kris.polly@waterstrategies.com.