Becoming a master irrigator

It started in 2016, with about 25 producers attending a four-day training course on irrigation management in Dumas, Texas. The North Plains Groundwater Conservation District developed a Master Irrigator program focused on irrigation management and regional hydrology as an effort to improve agricultural crop water use in the arid Texas Panhandle.

The idea was to create an environment of trusted advisers and peers and give producers access to ag tech and water management knowledge and tools that could immediately help them reduce water use — critical for an area impacted by the declining Ogallala Aquifer.

Since that initial class, MI has spread to additional agriculturally dominant states facing critical water scarcity and quality issues, with annual programs operating in Colorado, Oklahoma, Minnesota, Georgia and Mississippi, and two in development in Kansas and Nebraska. As it has grown, the MI program has been adapted locally to focus on center pivot, drip or flood irrigated systems, and on a range of crops including commodities, perennials and forages.

How has one seminar format been so applicable in such different agricultural settings? “By providing producers basic information that gets to the core, to the roots of improving crop water use: the agronomic and environmental factors interacting with irrigation systems,” says Jourdan Bell, PhD, current NPGCD MI program lead and a member of the initial MI planning committee. “We know that environmental [and agronomic] conditions vary across regions. But core principles don’t.”

Sumit Sharma, PhD, of Oklahoma State University, agrees. As OSU assistant extension specialist for High Plains irrigation and water management, he operates the MI program in Oklahoma. He describes three aspects of irrigation: hydrology, the water source; engineering, how to get water where you need it; and agronomy, the crop you produce with it for profit.

“The whole idea of MI is trying to incorporate all four of the sciences of irrigation into one program,” he says. “Instead of being siloed, they are sitting around the same table.”

The basics

While run by different organizations (water conservation districts, nonprofits or university extension services), each MI follows a format developed by NPGCD. Class sizes range from 25 to 35; run three to four days; and incorporate discussion groups, hands-on time with technology such as soil moisture sensors and presentations. Presenters include regional water experts on everything from irrigation systems to groundwater, as well as respected local producers, researchers, equipment dealers and irrigation managers. Beginning with NPGCD, each MI program has helped other programs develop.

Participants are primarily producers, with others representing all parts of the ag industry, vocationally and demographically. Programs often have repeat attenders, Bell points out, because the content evolves to stay current with regional needs, research or changing systems.

“We get growers, farm managers, consultants, county extension agents and grad students,” says Drew Gholson, PhD, Mississippi State University extension irrigation specialist, referring to the state’s MI. “This past year, we had a lot of young growers; our average age for growers was about 34. Programs like this can provide foundational knowledge that’s very important, and I think they’re looking for it.”

MI helps irrigators to “up their game,” Sharma says, even in a system where they might already be experts. Participants themselves provide expertise that benefits other MI participants. “I have a theory,” he adds. “With every 10 years you have farmed, you have earned yourself a PhD.”

The value of MI has gotten the attention of commercial and government entities, which offer incentives for irrigators seeking to implement water conservation practices, invest in water management technologies or update their irrigation systems. Depending on the state, MI graduates might receive corporate discounts on soil moisture sensors or consideration on funding applications, such as with the Natural Resource Conservation Service Environmental Quality Incentives Program.

“[MI graduates] have a base knowledge,” Gholson says. “They are going to be more likely to use [precision technology] and use it correctly, and long term.”

Regardless of where they attend, program directors agree that MI graduates come to understand the hydrology and regulatory contexts of regional water systems, basic irrigation infrastructure and maintenance, and short- and long-term financial implications for their operations’ bottom lines.

Setting a standard

In 2023, university collaborators in five states established a partnership agreement with NRCS to support MI program development and expansion. Building on the common curriculum and localized adaptations, the project is engaging MI program leads and stakeholders in developing set, “certified” standards of knowledge essential for addressing water management challenges that threaten irrigated ag production systems.

“There’s a capacity for MI to become something where irrigators anywhere could be recognized as having a skill set that gives them a practical and competitive advantage in managing inputs effectively, and more profitably,” says Amy Kremen, associate director for Colorado State University’s Irrigation Innovation Consortium, which hosts and co-leads the project.

As they’ve grown, she adds, the MI programs have all followed a minimum standard established by NPGCD. For example, MI programs must focus on agricultural irrigation, be advised by an expert advisory committee involving producers and must offer at least 24 hours of instruction, and all ag tech they cover must be commercially available.

“Having professional development for irrigators is critically important and not commonly available,” Kremen adds. “Master Irrigator creates a unique forum for sharing extensive technical expertise delivered in a way that people can trust.”

It also shows a commitment in the individual pursuing it, Bell says, to conservation and optimizing profitability connected to changes in water use. “Everything has to come together to keep an operation sustainable,” she says. “We are at a point in the southern Ogallala [Aquifer] region where producers are having to carefully consider every inch of water they apply not just for production today but understanding how that will impact future production.”

Ultimately, MI helps producers meet water scarcity challenges while maintaining their production and livelihood. Kremen estimates that, so far, the MI programs have collectively impacted more than a half million acres across the U.S., one class at a time.

Christine Hamilton is the program manager and communications coordinator for the Irrigation Innovation Consortium. IIC supports the development, testing and improvement of advanced irrigation management tools and strategies for water manager success. Part of Colorado State University’s College of Agricultural Sciences, IIC projects include a multistate partnership supporting expansion of two producer-driven programs across the U.S.: Master Irrigator and Testing Ag Performance Solutions. Learn more at irrigationinnovationconsortium.org.