To be fair the problem has much more to do with lack of incentive for implementation. They've been able to run drip irrigation for a looooong time. Its even better for yield. The reason many farmers don't do it is because irrigation systems must be maintained and water is sold to them for rock bottom prices. They can just flood irrigate (yes, literally flood entire fields) for a few bucks and have little to no maintenance costs.
rop_top t1_ixmlgzr wrote
Reply to Cheap, sensor-based agriculture could slash water use by up to 70% | We could definitely use something like this with all the droughts around. by chrisdh79
To be fair the problem has much more to do with lack of incentive for implementation. They've been able to run drip irrigation for a looooong time. Its even better for yield. The reason many farmers don't do it is because irrigation systems must be maintained and water is sold to them for rock bottom prices. They can just flood irrigate (yes, literally flood entire fields) for a few bucks and have little to no maintenance costs.