Onion Project Demonstration Under Drip-Irrigation

Project Leader: John Murray, Natural Resource and Conservation Services (NRCS), Montrose, CO

Technical Advisor: A. Wayne Cooley, Tri River Area Director & Extension Agent, CO

Project Year: 2006

Project Summary

Drip irrigation is not a new technology, but has not been widely adopted in the Uncompaghre Valley in western Colorado. Testing has been done since 2003 with acreage increasing every year to grow onions with drip irrigation. For the 2005 growing season, 20 acres were used for this project, an increase of 15 since 2003. One deterent to the adoption of drip irrigation has been the lack of appropriate machinery for installing and retrieving drip tape in the field. This project will include obtaining a drip tape extractor and a tape layer. This equipment will be shared among many growers and taken care of by the Conservation District. Having this machinery will make large-scale drip irrigation feasible for the farmers in the area. Drip irrigation saves water and controls erosion and runoff. This will keep onions a viable crop in the valley by increasing production and quality, as well as being able to grow other high value crops such as sweet corn, melons, and green bean seed for commercial seed production.