The Golden State: Where & How to Live, Secure, Visit, Enjoy and Thrive in California

Sprinkler Irrigation

The average increase in yield is difficult to determine because of the terms used by the farmers in reporting. It will also vary from one season to another and with the different crops. However, as this survey was intended to give the indications or trend, the foregoing phraseology is satisfactory and shows that the farmers believe that irrigation greatly increases the yield. In some instances it was reported that the returns from the increased yield paid the cost of the irrigation system in the first year of use.

Quality of Crops Under Irrigation

Another purpose of supplemental irrigation is to produce a high quality product. The following is a summary of the reports received:
Farmers Quality reporting
Much better 35
Better 10
Very good 5
Good 4
54 reports
Of the 54 farmers reporting on this question, all agreed that supplemental irrigation improves the quality of the product.

Earliness of Crop Due to Irrigation

There is considerable difference of opinion on the effect irrigation has on the time of crop maturity. Sixty-six percent of the reporting farmers say that crops mature the same time as without irrigation. 15 percent say that their crops mature up to 10 days earlier owing to irrigation, while 19 percent say that their crops mature later under irrigation. Before any definite conclusions can be reached as to the effect of irrigation on time of maturity, further investigational work will be required. Following is a summary of the reports received:
Farmers Time of maturity reporting
No earlier 27
Week to 10 days earlier 6
Later 8
41 reports

Cost of Equipment and Returns

Table 2 shows the cost of equipment as compared with the returns from irrigation. In the equipment cost was included the pipe, sprinklers, pump and power unit. An attempt was made to get the average added returns per acre over a period of years, but in reviewing these figures it must be remembered that the reports were obtained from farmers during the fall of 1946, following for the most part a season of unusually dry weather and good prices. For that reason, the returns due to irrigation, as reported, are probably somewhat higher than can be expected for an average year.

It can be seen from Table 2 that as the acreage under irrigation per farm increases the cost per acre for equipment decreases. However, it should also be noticed that, on the average, the added return is the largest on farms with the fewest number of acres under irrigation. This is probably due to the more intense farming practices on highly specialized crops.