Producers Learning From Producers
Local Conversations Drive Global Impact.
Data-driven comparisons of technology tested on neatly laid-out experimental fields have their place in Kansas’ efforts to conserve and protect its water supply. But producers need actionable information now.
“That’s where the Flickner Innovation Farm and other demonstration sites in Kansas fit in,” says Susan Metzger, director of the Kansas Water Institute (KWI) and the Kansas Center for Agricultural Resources and the Environment (KCARE).
Technology and practices are trialed in real time by producers who then share with other producers what they are learning: This is my yield. These are the challenges I had maintaining the system; getting a technician to come out; or receiving and managing data.
"At any given time, I would say we have 10 to 15 independent research projects happening at the Flickner Innovation Farm."
“This accelerates the knowledge transfer and, hopefully, the adoption of best practices.” Metzger says.
One of the Flickner Farm projects involves 360 Rain, an autonomous irrigation system that uses a three-wheeled vehicle to deliver water directly to the base of plants. Our Associations were asked by KCARE to write a letter of support for the 360 RAIN system grant, as well as for a separate grant tied to the Ogallala aquifer in western Kansas. Our Associations also provided some funding for the Ogallala project.
“It would be one thing for a university to submit an application and say, ‘We’re going to do this thing.’” Metzger says. “But if the people that are part of that food and ag supply chain aren’t with you from the beginning, then it’s just lip service. We had those providing the financing all the way up to consumers contributing letters of support that said, ‘The way this project is framed is important. The outcome is going to be important, and we want to be a part of it.’”
Livestock operators who rely on the Ogallala aquifer account for about 2% of reported water usage. But about 58% of the state’s food and ag industry is tied to livestock production. The grant aimed to bring beef and dairy operators into water conservation conversations that, in the past, focused more on irrigators. An outside firm took an “almost war-game approach,” asking participants how they would “win the war against the Ogallala’s decline and be productive in the future.”
Organizers used state data to identify feedyards, then drew 10-mile circles around them to determine invitees to the listening sessions.
"Rather than having this big global conversation about what are we going to do to slow the decline of the Ogallala, we created really localized conversations, where they could make their own tailored decisions."
Some of the benefits of these conversations extend beyond water conservation. A livestock producer might have been railing in corn but now was talking to a grain operator who could be a local source of reliable forage.
Conversations are the first step toward meaningful changes. The Sheridan 6 Local Enhanced Management Area (LEMA) in northwest Kansas is one of the best examples of local stakeholders developing and implementing groundwater conservation plans, Metzger says.
Producers and others within a 100-mile area committed to changes that equated to about a 30% reduction in water use. That was about 15 years ago, Metzer says, “and they’ve reached a point where they’re stabilizing the aquifer in most years, aside from years with severe drought.
“It’s newer, but we’re seeing the same thing now in Wichita County, where there has been a really aggressive, self-defined water conservation plan. This is encouraging because one of the barriers is that people will say, ‘How do I know that conservation actually makes a difference for me? Surely, if I conserve the water, my neighbor will just use it or the water will move downstream and I am the one who has lost economic productivity in the name of water conservation.’”
The more use cases that show water conservation works, the easier the conversations, the bigger the impact, Metzger says. “Me showing up with a chart is not the same as two people who live in the same region talking and making commitments and sharing information.”
34% of Kansas’ economy is tied to agriculture and food production. nearly 90% of water usage in the state supports this food system.
For more on how we and our customer-owners support a more sustainable agriculture industry, read our 2024 Sustainability Report.
5 Principles Guiding the Kansas Water Institute
- Conserve and extend the Ogallala High Plains aquifer.
- Secure, protect, restore water reservoirs.
- Improve water quality.
- Build resiliency to extreme climatic events.
- Increase awareness of Kansas water resources.
