Flood or Furrow Irrigation

Early farmer would have used this "low-tech" an ancient method of irrigating crops -- collect water in a bucket and pour it onto the fields. Today, this is still one of the most popular methods of crop irrigation used by humans as they began cultivating crops. The system is called flood irrigation -- water is pumped or brought to the fields and is allowed to flow along the ground among the crops. This method is simple and cheap, and is widely used by societies in less developed parts of the world as well as in the U.S.

Advantages of furrow irrigation include lower initial investment of equipment and lower pumping costs per acre-inch of water pumped. In addition to, furrow irrigation practice can minimize irrigation costs and chemical leaching and result in higher crop yields.Disadvantages include greater labor costs and lower application efficiency compared to sprinkler and subsurface drip irrigation system.


Here are some things that farmers are doing to be more efficient:

1. Leveling of fields, Flood irrigation uses gravity to transport water, and, since water flows downhill, it will miss a part of the field that is on a hill, even a small hill. Farmers are using leveling equipment, some of which is guided by a laser beam, to scrape a field flat before planting. That allows water to flow evenly throughout the fields. (Actually, this method of levelling a field is also used to build flat tennis courts).
2. Surge flooding, Traditional flooding involved just releasing water onto a field. In using surge flooding, water is released at prearranged intervals, which reduces unwanted runoff.
3. Capture and reuse of runoff, A large amount of flood-irrigation water is wasted because it runs off the edges and back of the fields. Farmers can capture the runoff in low-lying areas and pumped to the top of the field where it can be reused..