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usdaagscience favorited a video
(11 months ago)
INTRO: Researchers in New Mexico are using a US Dept of Agriculture grant to protect endangered fish and farms in the Rio Grande valley. USDAs Pat ...
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INTRO: Researchers in New Mexico are using a US Dept of Agriculture grant to protect endangered fish and farms in the Rio Grande valley. USDAs Pat OLeary has more. (1:58)
THE DEMANDS FOR WATER FROM THE BIG RIVER IN THE SOUTHWESTERN UNITED STATES ARE INCREASING. AS URBAN AREAS AND
AGRICULTURE EXPAND, RESEARCHERS FROM NEW MEXICO STATE UNIVERSITY ARE USING THE USDA-SPONSORED RIO GRANDE BASIN INITIATIVE TO RESPOND TO CHALLENGES.
David Cowley, New Mexico State University: My research and involvement with the Rio Grande Basin Initiative has been seeking ways that we could share agricultural water with the environment.
DAVID COWLEYS INNOVATIVE PROJECT AIMS TO HELP FARMS AND FISH CO-EXIST IN THIS ARID ENVIRONMENT.
Cowley: The Rio Grande Silvery Minnow is an endangered species. During dry years, irrigation and urban diversions dry up this critical habitat and Silvery Minnows get stranded in isolated pools and if they get too hot in the afternoon they die.
So the purpose of this project is to provide a wetted habitat that fish can seek out and go to as the river starts to decline and maybe give the government agencies time to come in and rescue minnows a little more effectively.
THE HABITAT IS CREATED BY RECYCLING NATURAL MATERIALS.
Cowley: We have installed dead cottonwood trees that we have tipped over and then buried the trunk in the riverbank here, so the root wad directs and deflects the water flow so that you get scour, were attempting to scour out a trough, basically, or a deeper channel, that later in the summer when we begin to dry up the river channel we can bring water into this scoured trough and keep a wetted habitat for the Silvery Minnow and other native fishes.
TO BRING WATER TO THE TROUGHS, THE RESEARCHERS USE RETURN FLOWS IRRIGATION CANALS THAT TAKE EXCESS WATER FROM FARMS BACK TO THE RIVER. THEY WILL TEST THIS SIMPLE SOLUTION BY MONITORING FISH POPULATIONS OVER THE NEXT FEW YEARS.
Cowley: And so this is an attempt to find a win-win solution where farmers can get their water and the return flows can be used to mitigate some of the damage to this endangered species.
IN BELEN, NEW MEXICO, IM PAT OLEARY FOR THE US DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE.
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usdaagscience favorited a video
(11 months ago)
INTRO: Researchers at New Mexico State University are looking at ways to conserve water from the Rio Grande River. USDAs Pat OLeary has more. (1:59...
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INTRO: Researchers at New Mexico State University are looking at ways to conserve water from the Rio Grande River. USDAs Pat OLeary has more. (1:59)
THE RIO GRANDE HAS NOURISHED FARMS, FAMILIES AND WILDLIFE IN THE SOUTHWEST FOR CENTURIES. AS DEMANDS ON THE WATER INCREASE, RESEARCHERS ARE LOOKING AT NEW AND OLD WAYS TO INCREASE EFFICIENCY OF IRRIGATION AND OTHER USES. THE USDA-
FUNDED RIO GRANDE BASIN INITIATIVE IS SPONSORING SEVERAL PROJECTS ON FARMS IN THE REGION.
Tom Dean, Ag Agent, Socorro County, New Mexico: What weve been doing with some of our Rio Grande Basin Initiative demonstrations here in Socorro is actually trying to monitor some soil moisture. We take farmers and bring them out and do field days and show them. And you know, actually showing people what they can do is worth a lot more than showing them on paper.
Chris Sichler, New Mexico Farmer: We grow fruit and vegetables and quite a bit of alfalfa. Weve always used flood irrigation, and just recently on our vegetables were going into the drip irrigation, mainly just because its more efficient. We get a lot more production out of our land and the water we use with the drip.
SCIENTISTS AT TEXAS A& M AND NEW MEXICO STATE UNIVERSITY ARE LOOKING AT BOTH LARGE AND SMALL FARMS.
Steve Guldan, New Mexico State University: Here at the Alcalde Sustainable Agriculture Science Center one of the main projects is related to acequia systems, acequia irrigation systems and their influence on the hydrology of the irrigated corridor. Acequias are the traditional irrigation ditches or canals around here.
Alfredo Montoya, Farmer: Acequias became much more than a canal to transport water to irrigate crops. They became a way of life, it became a culture. So many events evolve around an acequia. In many of our villages the annual ditch cleaning is a community affair because it sustains the whole village, not just those that own irrigated land.
UNLIKE CANALS THAT ARE LINED WITH CEMENT TO PREVENT LEECHING, THE EARTHEN ACEQUIAS ALLOW SEEPAGE INTO GROUNDWATER. BUT THE RESEARCHERS AR FINDING THAT THE SEEPAGE ISNT WASTED. IT PROMOTES RIPARIAN BUFFERS, CLEANER GROUNDWATER AND POSSIBLY MORE EFFICIENT STORAGE OF WATER.
Guldan: The reservoirs in place, theres a lot of water thats lost due to evaporation. And so wed like to put numbers on this to see to what extent are we actually storing water more efficiently underground here because of the seepage taking place, for return later to the river.
IN ALCALDE, NEW MEXICO FOR THE USDA IM PAT OLEARY.
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usdaagscience uploaded a new video
(1 year ago)
Learn how the United States narrowly avoided an agricultural catastrophe from a devastating plant disease.
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usdaagscience uploaded a new video
(1 year ago)
The future is now as Oklahoma State University researchers develop the very latest devices in precision agriculture.
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