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Module 4 – Summative Assessment 1 Food, Water, and Pawnee County, Kansas Introduction The objective of this assignment is to assess the benefits of more efficient irrigation methods on a farm in Kansas using your knowledge from Module 4 about water for crops combined with an online tool that estimates crop yield from different irrigation strategies. The farm is located in Pawnee County, Kansas (Figure 1). Pawnee County is in the Arkansas River drainage basin and runoff from the land in the county flows into the Mississippi River and then into the Gulf of Mexico. In addition, many farms in Pawnee County extract irrigation water from the Ogallala Aquifer, one of the world’s largest and most over-exploited aquifers. Pawnee County is an agricultural county in Kansas where 75% of the market value of agricultural products sold in the county is from livestock sales (more than $270 million) and the remaining 25% are crop sales (more than $92 million). Wheat, grain sorghum, and corn are Pawnee County’s biggest crops. Both grain sorghum and corn are used for cattle feed. (Note: If the file does not open, copy and paste the link into your browser) http://www.agcensus.usda.gov/Publications/2012/Online_Resources/County_Profiles/Kansas/cp20145.pdf The Great Plains of the US, where Pawnee County is located, is one of the world’s largest exporters of commodities like corn and soybeans, and the region is extremely water stressed. Because of precipitation rates on the Great Plains, much of the agriculture on the US plains relies on irrigation from groundwater pumped from the Ogallala Aquifer. Crops can be grown in this region without irrigation. Farming without irrigation in a semi-arid region is called “dryland farming”. Dryland farming is possible, but crop yields are much lower and crop choices are limited to those crops that are productive with limited water. The three main types of irrigation used are flood/furrow, center-pivot sprinklers and surface or subsurface drip. Flood/furrow is least efficient with only about 50% of the water applied actually being used for crop growth. Sprinklers are roughly 75% efficient, while drip irrigation can be up to 90% efficient. Use of sprinklers is becoming more widespread, but drip irrigation is not yet widely adopted because of the initial expense to install a drip system. The resulting increase in crop yields over time with drip irrigation can offset the initial expense. One of your friends at school is from a farming and ranching family in Pawnee County, Kansas. She mentioned that her family is considering transitioning some of their acreage from flood and furrow irrigated feed crops into high-value fruits and vegetables using a high efficiency irrigation system. She explained that there is debate among the neighboring farmers about the cost to transition (cost of irrigation system, etc.) versus the benefits. She knew that you were taking a class related to food and the environment and she asked you to explain what the benefits might be of making such a transition. Background reading and video 1. Visit http://www.ksre.k-state.edu/sdi/ and watch the short video (1 min 28 sec) entitled Snapshot of Success, Research and Extension Outreach, Subsurface Drip Irrigation. 2. Read the short article below that includes recent data about the Dead Zone in the Gulf of Mexico Gulf of Mexico Dead Zone Largest Since 2002

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Page 1: Module4 Summative Revised092518...irrigation in a semi-arid region is called “dryland farming”. Dryland farming is possible, but crop yields are much lower and crop choices are

Module4–SummativeAssessment

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Food, Water, and Pawnee County, Kansas

IntroductionTheobjectiveofthisassignmentistoassessthebenefitsofmoreefficientirrigationmethodsonafarminKansasusingyourknowledgefromModule4aboutwaterforcropscombinedwithanonlinetoolthatestimatescropyieldfromdifferentirrigationstrategies.ThefarmislocatedinPawneeCounty,Kansas(Figure1).PawneeCountyisintheArkansasRiverdrainagebasinandrunofffromthelandinthecountyflowsintotheMississippiRiverandthenintotheGulfofMexico.Inaddition,manyfarmsinPawneeCountyextractirrigationwaterfromtheOgallalaAquifer,oneoftheworld’slargestandmostover-exploitedaquifers.PawneeCountyisanagriculturalcountyinKansaswhere75%ofthemarketvalueofagriculturalproductssoldinthecountyisfromlivestocksales(morethan$270million)andtheremaining25%arecropsales(morethan$92million).Wheat,grainsorghum,andcornarePawneeCounty’sbiggestcrops.Bothgrainsorghumandcornareusedforcattlefeed.(Note:Ifthefiledoesnotopen,copyandpastethelinkintoyourbrowser)http://www.agcensus.usda.gov/Publications/2012/Online_Resources/County_Profiles/Kansas/cp20145.pdf

TheGreatPlainsoftheUS,wherePawneeCountyislocated,isoneoftheworld’slargestexportersofcommoditieslikecornandsoybeans,andtheregionisextremelywaterstressed.BecauseofprecipitationratesontheGreatPlains,muchoftheagricultureontheUSplainsreliesonirrigationfromgroundwaterpumpedfromtheOgallalaAquifer.Cropscanbegrowninthisregionwithoutirrigation.Farmingwithoutirrigationinasemi-aridregioniscalled“drylandfarming”.Drylandfarmingispossible,butcropyieldsaremuchlowerandcropchoicesarelimitedtothosecropsthatareproductivewithlimitedwater.Thethreemaintypesofirrigationusedareflood/furrow,center-pivotsprinklersandsurfaceorsubsurfacedrip.Flood/furrowisleastefficientwithonlyabout50%ofthewaterappliedactuallybeingusedforcropgrowth.Sprinklersareroughly75%efficient,whiledripirrigationcanbeupto90%efficient.Useofsprinklersisbecomingmorewidespread,butdripirrigationisnotyetwidelyadoptedbecauseoftheinitialexpensetoinstalladripsystem.Theresultingincreaseincropyieldsovertimewithdripirrigationcanoffsettheinitialexpense.OneofyourfriendsatschoolisfromafarmingandranchingfamilyinPawneeCounty,Kansas.Shementionedthatherfamilyisconsideringtransitioningsomeoftheiracreagefromfloodandfurrowirrigatedfeedcropsintohigh-valuefruitsandvegetablesusingahighefficiencyirrigationsystem.Sheexplainedthatthereisdebateamongtheneighboringfarmersaboutthecosttotransition(costofirrigationsystem,etc.)versusthebenefits.Sheknewthatyouweretakingaclassrelatedtofoodandtheenvironmentandsheaskedyoutoexplainwhatthebenefitsmightbeofmakingsuchatransition.

Backgroundreadingandvideo1. Visithttp://www.ksre.k-state.edu/sdi/andwatchtheshortvideo(1min28sec)entitledSnapshotof

Success,ResearchandExtensionOutreach,SubsurfaceDripIrrigation.2. ReadtheshortarticlebelowthatincludesrecentdataabouttheDeadZoneintheGulfofMexico

GulfofMexicoDeadZoneLargestSince2002

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ByJoAnnaWendel6August2015,eos.orghttps://eos.org/articles/gulf-of-mexico-dead-zone-largest-since-2002

Figure1-Avisualizationofhownutrientrunofffromfarms(green)andcities(red)intheMississippiRiverBasininfluencesalgalbloomsintheGulfofMexico.Thewarmercolorsrepresentahigherconcentrationofalgae.NOAAscientistspredictthatthesizeofthe2015GulfofMexicodeadzone,whichiscausedbythedecompositionoftheseblooms,willbeaboutthesizeofConnecticut.Credit:NOAA,https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/podcast/feb18/nop13-hypoxia.html.

**ForallofthefollowingexercisesfillinyouranswersintotheExcelspreadsheetprovided“Module4_SummativeResults.xlsx”.Youranswersshouldbeinputintotheshadedcells.Asyouaddvaluestothespreadsheet,thegraphwillpopulate.

Part1:Precipitation1. Gotothe“Watersourcesforcrops”pageinModule4.1(https://www.e-

education.psu.edu/geog3/node/1093).2. UseFigure4.1.5todeterminetherangeofannualprecipitationforPawneeCounty,Kansas?Pawnee

countyislocatedabitsouthwestofthecenterofthestateofKansas(Figures1and2indicatethelocationofthecounty).Recordyouranswerintheresultsspreadsheet.

Pawnee County, KS

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Figure2–LocationofPawneeCounty,Kansas

Part2:Crops1. Onthe“Watersourcesforcrops”pageinModule4.1(https://www.e-

education.psu.edu/geog3/node/1093,findFigure4.1.6,whichshowswaterusefordifferentcropsinCalifornia.WhichcropshaveamedianwaterapplicationdepthlessthanthenaturalprecipitationrateinPawneeCounty,KS(assumingthatthewaterapplicationrateinKansasissimilartothatofCalifornia)?Recordyourlistintheresultsspreadsheet.

2. It’simportanttorememberthatalloftheannualprecipitationdoesn’tfallduringthegrowingseason.Also,theannualprecipitationratewe’reusingfromFigure4.1.5isanaverage.Someyearsaredrierandsomearewetterthanthisaverage.ThislistgivesyouanideaofwhatcropscouldbefarmedinKansasusingdrylandfarming.

Part3:IrrigationEfficiencyandCropYieldThenextsectioninstructsyouhowtouseanonlinetooltoestimatetheimpactofdifferentirrigationefficienciesandannualrainfallamountsoncropyield.Followtheinstructionsbelowtofilloutthetableattheend.

1. Visithttp://www.bae.ksu.edu/mobileirrigationlab/cwa2,theCropWaterAllocator.

2. ClickthegreenStartbutton:

3. Youwilllandonapagethatlookslikethis:

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4. Double-clickontheverticalbluebarattherightsideofthepanetoopentheresultspaneontheright.

5. Clickonthe“Crops,Prices,Yields”tab.

6. Checktheboxesforallofthecropsshownincludingfallow.

7. ClickthegreenCalculatebuttonatthebottom.

8. Theresultspaneontherightshouldpopulatewithinformationaboutallofthecrops,asinFigure3.

o Noticethatthereisahorizontalscrollbaratthebottomoftherightpanethatallowsyoutoseealloftheresultsinthepane.

o Also,theverticalbluebarcanbedraggedleftorrighttodisplaymoreorlessoftherightandleftpanes.

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Figure3-CropWaterAllocator

Usethisscrollbartoseealloftheresultsintherightpane

Dragthebluebarleftorrighttorevealmoreofeitherpane

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9. ClickontheFieldandIrrigationtabontheleft.Usethefieldsonthispagetoadjustfordifferentirrigationstrategiesaccordingtotheinstructionsbelow

o Thedefaultscenariois130acres,100%irrigatedagriculture.

o Youwillonlychangetwosettings:§ AnnualPrecipitation,

inches§ Efficiency,%

o UsethevaluesinTable1tosetupsixdifferentscenariosofprecipitationandirrigationefficiency.

o ClickthegreenCalculatebuttonatthebottom.

o Scrollthroughtheresultsintherightpane.

o Noticethatthecropyieldcolumnreportsyieldwithdifferentunitsofmeasurefordifferentcrops.It’sbeyondthescopeofthisclasstogetintowhysomecropsarereportedinbushelsandothersinpoundsortons.Thekeyresultstoconsiderrightnowarethefinancialreturnsperacre.

10. Recordtheresultsfor“TotalReturn–net$peracre”foreachscenarioforthesevencropsintheresultsspreadsheet.

Table1–Sixrainfallandirrigationefficiencyscenarios

Scenario1Avgrainfall,floodfurrowirrigation

Scenario2Avgrainfall,center-pivotsprinkler

Scenario3Avgrainfall,dripirrigation

Scenario4Droughtyear,floodfurrowirrigation

Scenario5Droughtyear,center-pivotsprinkler

Scenario6Droughtyear,dripirrigation

AnnualPrecipitation(inches)

MiddleofrangefromPart1

MiddleofrangefromPart1

MiddleofrangefromPart1

25%lessthanavgprecip

25%lessthanavgprecip

25%lessthanavgprecip

Efficiency 50% 75% 90% 50% 75% 90%

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Part4:DiscussionandSynthesisWriteashortdiscussion(~2paragraphs)ofthebenefitsofthetwodifferentfarmingstrategies:traditionalcattleranching,feedlots,andwheat,grainsorghum,andcorncropsvs.highvaluefruitsandvegetableswithhigh-efficiencyirrigation.Inyourdiscussion:

o includetheconceptsofwaterfootprints,waterscarcity,deadzones,andirrigationefficiencyo considerboththequantityofwaterused(e.g.,methodofirrigation,waterfootprints)andthe

impactstowaterquality(e.g.,fertilizerrunoffandthedeadzone)o refertoyourscenariosfromPart3o thepossibleresponseinthehumansystemtotheformationofdeadzones.Proposestrategiesthat

couldbeimplementedtoreducetheamountoffertilizerrunningofffromthefarmlandtominimizethefarm’scontributiontothedeadzoneintheGulfofMexico.Reviewthecoupledhuman-naturalsystemdiagrambelow.

For the on-line class The discussion portion of the worksheet is incorporated into the weekly discussion post. You will not be quizzed on the discussion portion of the assessment but will answer similar questions in the weekly discussion.

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AssessmentRubric

Criteria PossiblePoints

PointsAwarded

Part1:Precipitation Precipitationratesfrommaparecorrect. 2 Part2:Crops Listofcropscorrectlyrepresentscropsthatcouldbegrownwithnaturalprecipitation 4

Part3: ScenariotablecorrectlypopulatedwithresultsfromtheCropWaterAllocator 14

Part4:DiscussionandSynthesis Includescorrectusageoftheconceptofwaterfootprintsandconnectionbetweendietandwaterconsumption. 5

Clearlyexplainsconnectionsbetweenfarming,waterscarcity,deadzones,andirrigationefficiency.Alsodemonstratesclearlytheconnectionbetweenincreasedwaterconsumptionandimpactstowaterresources,includingqualityandquantityimpacts,suchasnutrientpollutionandgroundwaterdepletions.

10

Well-written,properspellingandgrammar,andusescompleteandwell-craftedsentences. 2

Logicalpresentationoftopics.Reasonablelength. 3

TOTAL 40


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