61–70 of 141 posts
The margins are doubtless so narrow that it's not feasible, but pumping during the day into a storage tank, and irrigating at night (while evaporation is relatively low) would be a way to slightly improve soil (though not aquifer) recharge. Certainly it would require less water volume , but again, the infrastructure costs for panels + submersible + storage are probably untenable in precisely the places this is needed…
https://permacultureapprentice.com/permaculture-water-manage...
I know some farmers in North Texas where they are pulling water out of a depleted aquifer. The water is starting to get salty so they're adjusting to salt tolerant variants of their crops. The ground is also starting to drop due to the aquifer draining. It's crazy to see
I know some farmers in North Texas where they are pulling water out of a depleted aquifer. The water is starting to get salty so they're adjusting to salt tolerant variants of their crops. The ground is also starting to drop due to the aquifer draining. It's crazy to see
I remember reading about how in the Soviet Union, there were places they were irrigating with brackish water and how they were now infertile. The obvious conclusion was that the Soviet economic system was busted to permanently destroy land for some temporary gain.
Humans are bad at long term thinking.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> If you don't irrigate during the day in hot climates most crops will die That is clearly not true. Most crops are fine with watering after sunset / before sunrise.
Fair. I just edited my comment because I combined two concepts and muddled them together. It's more common to suffer a poorer yield than total crop loss. But crops like tomatoes can die from lack of water during high heat days if the heat lasts for several days. Also, irrigating only at night (not just evening, but over night) can contribute to fungal and disease issues with some crops.
Tomatoes are actually pretty robust, if you grow them properly.
The way I was taught to maximise survival / yield in hot climates is to grow as seedlings for a few weeks, until they're maybe 30cm or so tall. Dig holes ~ 25cm deep, flood / drain / flood / drain - and then take all but the upper few branches off the seedling, and plant, backfill with soil, so about 5m is above-ground.
Because they have adventitious rooting you've effectively just given them a massive reservoir of water retention. This is obviously expensive at scale (though not intrinsically infeasible) but works superbly well in hostile, arid climates.
I expect the next decade or two will force a lot of changes to the way food is grow in already marginal climates.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I did the math once and the amount of water we’ve pumped out of the aquifers worldwide and not replaced is worth more than a mm of sea level rise.
Please show the math and sources, I would love to see the sauce.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> These are also expensive to buy & run. Long-term, it’s the cheapest option if you want to farm in an arid region.
Drip is used quite a bit in Northern California for higher value crops like tomatoes, but it's too expensive for normal crops. It also seems like a non-starter for smaller scale and poorer farmers in developing nations; that's a lot of CapEx for generally lower value crops.
We’re not disagreeing. Those farming regions are not viable long term unless the economics change dramatically.
I know some farmers in North Texas where they are pulling water out of a depleted aquifer. The water is starting to get salty so they're adjusting to salt tolerant variants of their crops. The ground is also starting to drop due to the aquifer draining. It's crazy to see