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Economics of Irrigation Systems

Steve Amosson, Lal Almas, Jnaneshwar Girase, Nicholas Kenny, Bridget Guerrero, Kumar Vimlesh and, Thomas Marek (October, 2011)

Summary

Irrigation can improve crop production, reduce yield variability, and increase profits. But choosing and buying an irrigation system are both expensive and complex. When considering investing in an irrigation system, farmers must keep in mind several major factors: financing, crop mix, energy prices, energy sources, commodity prices, labor availability, economies of scale, the availability of water, savings in field operations, the system’s application efficiency, the operating pressure of the design, and the depth from which the water must be pumped, or pumping lift.