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By Puneet Srivastava, Ph.D., Professor of Ecological Engineering, Auburn University
Al ab ama Tu rf Tim e s > >> Su mmer 201 4
Editor’s note: While this article specifically addresses row-crop production, the connection between increased irrigation and improved crop yields is undoubtedly of equal interest to sod growers.
A
lmost 63 years ago, writing in the December 1951 edition of Farm and Ranch, Alabama Extension Service Director P.O. Davis related the story of a Tennessee Valley corn producer who looked ahead to a promising crop. He diligently followed all the recommendations of his
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Extension agent but ended up with only a third of the yield he expected. Weather — more specifically, the lack of rainfall — was the culprit. And to add insult to injury, the producer was located only a short distance from the Tennessee River. This old story, related by one of Alabama’s late, great agricultural visionaries, underscores one of this state’s lost opportunities: the failure to irrigate.
Abundant, but erratic, rainfall Rainfall is bountiful in Alabama, averaging some 55 inches a year.
Photo courtesy of Buy Sod, Inc.
The problem is that while we receive lots of rainfall, it’s often not available during the times when growers need it. While it is abundant, it is also highly erratic, and this is reflected in acute variations in stream flows in the state during the year and from year to year. Alabama, along with the rest of the Southeast, is distinguished as much by its climate variability as it is by abundant but erratic rainfall. Even during the winter months, temperature and rainfall can vary considerably. And throughout the Southeast, precipitation, stream flow and water availability