{"id":12387,"date":"2018-02-23t05:23:10","date_gmt":"2018-02-23t05:23:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dpetrov.2create.studio\/planet\/wordpress\/water-challenges-farmers-need-to-grow-more-food-with-fewer-resources\/"},"modified":"2018-02-23t05:23:10","modified_gmt":"2018-02-23t05:23:10","slug":"water-challenges-agriculture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/story\/water-challenges-agriculture\/","title":{"rendered":"water challenges: farmers need to grow more food with fewer resources"},"content":{"rendered":"
in the face of a changing climate, the agriculture industry is increasingly figuring out how to produce more and use less.<\/p>\n
at its core, producing row crops will always be the same process: plant it, grow it, harvest it.<\/p>\n
water impacts every stage of this cycle.<\/p>\n
if there\u2019s too much water when the seeds are planted, the young plant\u2019s roots can\u2019t get oxygen and die. if there\u2019s not enough, they won\u2019t germinate. a heavy storm after applying nitrogen fertilizer can wash the nutrients into the watershed, making it unavailable to the plant and polluting the water supply. too little rain and the plants can\u2019t take up the nutrients that keep photosynthesis going. another big rain at harvest can make a field too wet for a producer to get equipment in and crops out of a field.<\/p>\n
for decades, producers have used technology to control the risk of water.<\/p>\n
in wet states like ohio, iowa, and illinois, they use drainage ditches and systems of underground pipes to channel water out of fields and prevent damage from standing water.<\/p>\n
in the plains states, producers depend on irrigation, pulling water from below the ground to compensate for the lack of rainfall. the most popular irrigation system, rotating center-pivots, create the circles of green that dot the landscape in flyover country every summertime.<\/p>\n
western nebraska sits on the heart of the ogallala aquifer, a vast stretch of water beneath the surface. when rain falls, it recharges the aquifer, but in the last 60 years, producers have been pulling water faster than the aquifer can replace it. according to a recent report<\/a> from the denver post, the aquifer shrank twice as fast over the past six years compared with the previous 60. (watch this video about the ogallala aquifer<\/a> to learn more.)<\/p>\n so far, 358 miles of surface rivers and streams in the high plains of colorado, kansas, and nebraska have dried up as a result, according to a study published last year<\/a> in the proceedings of the national academy of sciences<\/a>. researchers estimate another 177 miles will be gone by 2060 if water is withdrawn at the current rate.<\/p>\n what\u2019s more, scientists have found impacts of a changing climate will reduce the availability of water in nebraska. a university of nebraska-lincoln report<\/a> projected the state will have more frequent and severe drought and more days topping 100 degrees. they expect soil moisture to decline by 5 to 10 percent. and less snowpack in the rocky mountains means less water will flow downstream into nebraska.<\/p>\n less water overall makes each step of the \u201cplant it, grow it, and harvest it\u201d cycle more difficult. producing row crops on the plains requires individual farms to do more with a smaller amount.<\/p>\n like most nebraska farmers, roric paulman irrigates with water pulled from the ogallala.<\/p>\n