The Irrigation Innovation Alliance is a collaborative project between Colorado State University and other land-grant universities and industries. It aims to accelerate the development and adoption of water-saving and energy-saving irrigation technologies. It will fund seven research projects in 2021.
The consortium provided a total of US$533,126 in funding from the Food and Agricultural Research Foundation to selected projects. Through cooperation with partner institutions and companies, these teams have brought in additional matching funds of US$979,424 to support their innovative research and promotion work.
IIC was launched in 2018, and FFAR invested US$5 million to use public-private partnerships to maximize the impact of irrigation research investment. By 2023, with the matching support of every FFAR USD, at least USD 10 million of investment will support IIC-related projects and activities.
As freshwater resources become more and more precious around the world, there is an urgent need to research irrigation techniques to optimize the system and maximize efficiency. Efficient use of water resources is necessary to ensure the resilience of agricultural and landscape systems. Through the alliance, industry and the public sector jointly develop, test, prototype and improve equipment, technology, and decision support systems.
IIC-funded research is providing today's lawn managers, farmers, and water district managers with cutting-edge, more user-friendly tools and technologies that have the potential to change the way water is used and managed on a large scale in the future.
“When we face issues related to water and energy efficiency, it’s important that we transcend our own state boundaries and establish strategic partnerships with other agencies that share common ground in providing new technologies to producers and irrigation professionals. Mission,” said Greg Lewis, executive director of corporate and foundation relations at CSU and IIC consultant.
Winners are selected through a competitive review process that weighs and prioritizes projects based on innovation, scientific value, inter-agency collaboration, impact potential, and outreach plans. Several CSU researchers including Allan Andales, AJ Brown, Jose Chavez and Yaling Qian participated in the selection process.
The combination of precise mobile drip irrigation and variable-speed irrigation technology is used in the production of special crops and vegetables
Pivot automation for near-end sensing of Great Plains corn and soybeans
Combining soil water supply and atmospheric evaporation needs to improve irrigation scheduling
Linking site-scale performance to watershed health: the additional power of sharing data
Quantify irrigation water savings for multiple agricultural photovoltaic configurations
Close the cycle of sustainable plastic culture
Precise irrigation of golf course fairways using soil moisture sensors and mapping technology
The Colorado State University-based Irrigation Innovation Alliance includes four other US land-grant universities: University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Kansas State University, Texas A&M University, and California State University Fresno. The founding and maintaining industry partners of the consortium are Aqua Engineering, Irrigation Association, JAIN Irrigation, LI-COR, Lindsay Corp., Northern Water, Valmont, Hunter Industries, Toro, Rubicon, Colorado Corn Growers Association and Senniger Irrigation Inc.
To learn more about the Irrigation Innovation Alliance, please visit the IIC website: https://irrigationinnovation.org/
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