K-State Research and Extension and the Kansas Water Office are working with farmers and other collaborators to develop water technology farms which will help test and demonstrate irrigation technologies in real life situations. In this file photo, irrigation company crews check the connections of a center pivot system for the ILS farm, which is one of the host sites for the 2019 Technology Field Days series.
K-State joins with western Kansas farmers, Kansas Water Office to present Water Technology Field Days
Participants can see technology in action, irrigation equipment varies by site
Aug. 5, 2019
GARDEN CITY, Kan. — Kansas State University is partnering with the Kansas Water Office and farmers across a swath of western Kansas to host eight Water Technology Field Days in August and September. The events are designed to show agricultural producers and others how the newest crop irrigation research and technology is being applied in real-life situations on private farms.
The dates, locations and times are:
- Aug. 8 – Tribune – Homeland Farm – 5 p.m.
- Aug. 9 – Hesston – Jacob, Weber and R&E Goering farms – 10:30 a.m.
- Aug. 20 – Scott City – Circle C and Long farms – 10:30 a.m.
- Aug. 23 – Larned – WaterPACK & ILS Farm – 10:30 a.m.
- Sept. 4 – Goodland – NW Kansas Tech College Farms – 9:30 a.m. (multiple events)
- Sept. 5 – Garden City – The GCC-Roth Family, T&O and Harshberger farms – 10:30 a.m.
- Sept. 5 – Liberal – Hatcher Land & Cattle Farm – 5 p.m.
- Sept. 10 – Troy – Loess Hills Water Quality Farm – 9 a.m.
The KWO provides financial assistance to K-State’s efforts to give technical support for some of the technology demonstration farms.
“K-State Research and Extension is committed to developing and promoting new irrigation technologies that will be environmentally and economically efficient while conserving and protecting limited water resources,” said Ernie Minton, dean of the College of Agriculture and director of K-State Research and Extension. “The K-State Research and Extension services conducted at these Water Technology Farms significantly advances the knowledge of the most efficient water management technology and practices.”
Some of the technologies that these Water Technology Farms have are replicated in small plots at the Southwest Research-Extension Center in Garden City.
“We are excited to work with the producers on these farms because we could validate the results in our research plots to the production scale and conditions of actual farms,” said Jonathan Aguilar, K-State associate professor and water resource engineer located in Garden City.
He leads the monitoring activities of six water technology farms within the Ogallala Aquifer region.
“We hope farmers can see better options in managing their water as their peers test new – and even not so new – irrigation technologies,” he said.
More information on other collaborators and details on the field days is available online or by contacting Armando Zarco, KWO water resource planner, at 620-765-7485.
A pair of K-State Research and Extension western stations that are conducting irrigation research are also hosting field days this month:
- Aug. 8 – NWREC at Colby – 2:30 p.m. (30th Anniversary of Subsurface Drip Irrigation/SDI Research)
- Aug. 22 – SWREC at Garden City – 9 a.m.
