Chattanooga: Farmers face tough choice on irrigation

Still facing the challenges of high oil prices and a drought now in its third year, local farmers and plant nurseries must choose whether to invest in alternative water sources or simply pray for rain.

Excessive dryness hurts crop turnout, but rising energy prices make buying an irrigation system difficult, farmers say.

“That’s too expensive,” Trenton, Ga., farmer John Case said. “As high as diesel fuel is now ... that’d be rough.”

“We were going to prepare to irrigate more, but since diesel fuel is so high, we’re not able to pump water,” said Tommy Boyd, fifth-generation owner of Boyd & Boyd Nursery of McMinnville, Tenn.

Most irrigation systems use diesel fuel to pump water, though some growers use electricity.

Michael Pippen, sales and design engineer for Irrigation-Mart in Ruston, La., said most overhead sprinkler systems cost about $500 to $700 per acre, while low-volume drip systems cost from $700 to $1,200 per acre. There are significant economies of scale for large acreage, he said, and costs also vary based on the available water source and the kind of crop being grown.

But in the Chattanooga area, last year’s one-two punch of a freeze in April then a drought by May taught a “lesson” to some farmers, according to Joe Pearson of the Tennessee Farm Bureau.

“The cost of irrigation equipment has gone up since last year, but yes, there have been more producers taking advantage of irrigation or planning to put in irrigation than maybe historically,” he said. “That was a lesson from last year.”

Larry Green, owner of Guthrie Nursery, Inc., in McMinnville, estimated 10 percent to 15 percent of local nurseries use irrigation. Though more recent data is not yet available, a 2002 census prepared by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistical Service found 2,592 of Tennessee’s 87,595 farms were irrigated, or about 3 percent.

Ken Durham said his Tunnel Hill, Ga., farm uses drip irrigation, a newer technology that waters mainly the plant roots instead of spraying water all over, reducing water consumption.

“We don’t have as tough a time as everybody else does,” he said of dealing with drought.

Joel Houser of Crabtree Farms in Chattanooga also uses drip irrigation, which he said is best because of the low water consumption. “It kept us alive last year,” he said.

Another option, digging water wells, also is expensive and requires researching whether the water actually is down there.

Trying to offset water costs, some farmers have turned to alternative ideas.

“They’ve also gone to trying to use (crop) varieties that are more drought tolerant,” Mr. Pearson said. “And there has been some good success in that from plant breeders, to develop drought-tolerant varieties, and that’s a help.”

Soybean and certain row crops — such as wheat — survive drought better than vegetables or tobacco, Mr. Pearson said, because they do not spoil as quickly without water.

Pastures suffer from dryness very quickly, and cattle then feel the heat, too, he said.

At Boyd & Boyd Nurseries, they’re trying new ideas to offset higher costs.

“Just trying to get our crops planted earlier, like in November, December, for our field crops,” Mr. Boyd said. “What we can plant, try to plant earlier, where it gets settled in the ground better.”

Faced with a choice between drought and rising energy prices, many said they were not sure which is the lesser of two evils.

“We’re all stumped on that one,” Mr. Durham said.