central nebraska | 1234 - 9/19/2016 15:13
So if you didn't irrigate you could grow, what, a 100 bu? So the difference is 130 bushel? If you substracted the cost of the extra seed, fertilizer, pumping costs, the extra rent, taxes etc. how much of that 130 bu is profit to the water, maybe 65 bushel? So, very roughly 65 bu. of corn at $3 is $195. Is an extra $195 worth 7-10 inches of water? That makes the water worth $20-$30 per inch.
Here's the problem:
I run a pivot around, watering roughly 140 acres/quarter section. It costs me $800/1000 dollars of fuel. It's really hard to put a number on property tax, well maintanence, pivot, etc... but lets just double that initial number and say $2k a pass which is probably an overestimate but somewhere in the ballpark. At $4 corn that's only 3.5 bushels to justify a pass.
Its a no brainer, and people will run pivots all day to err on the positive and tell their neighbors how they raised 300 bushel corn. NRD is trying. We have meters on every well now in our district. |
Groundwater
