An old idea is resurfacing on irrigated acres: if you can’t always pump more, make each inch behave better once it hits the soil.
By the time irrigation water reaches a corn field, the hard part should be over. The pump did its job. The pivot made its slow circle. The drops landed where they were supposed to land.
And yet, any grower who has watched a field after a hot, windy day knows the uncomfortable truth: delivery is not the same as use.
Some of that water runs off. Some pools and evaporates.
