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Great Lakes suited for high value irrigated crops

An irrigation educator says commodity prices and access to water has shifted where and what crops are irrigated in agriculture.

“We see more high value crops drawing to this area, the seed corn and vegetable crops.  As costs of production goes up, they are less likely to want to deal with the risks of delayed planting from being too wet or drought from not having irrigation water supplies available.”

Lyndon Kelley with Michigan State University and Purdue University Extension tells Brownfield sandy soils throughout parts of the Great Lakes are able to replenish aquafers at a faster rate than other western states.  “We are blessed with a natural resource that is annually renewed in most of the sandy loams.  Acre for acre, we’re putting more in each year than we’re taking out and that’s not the situation in the western United States.”

Kelley says access to abundant water supplies is the number one limiting factor of where crops are irrigated, with as much as five gallons of water per minute used for every acre of irrigation. And, he says economically, the value of crops also needs to offset the cost of water, equipment and management.

AUDIO: Interview with Lyndon Kelley