Irrigated agriculture water use per hectare is largely driven by crop and irrigation system. Mobile Drip Irrigation is a system with many practical and agronomic advantages. This work aims to document observations from innovative farmers adopting Mobile Drip Irrigation in Australia.

Methods and Results

Observations were recorded from three Mobile Drip Irrigation systems across Australia which successfully grew crops in the 2021 season:

* Tasmanian potato crop topped over 100 tonnes per hectare using 3.4 megalitres per hectare.

* Wagga Wagga corn crop yielded 16.2 tonnes dry grain per hectare using 6 megalitres per hectare.

* Finley cotton crop yielded 10.74 bales per hectare using 7.5 megalitres per hectare.

Conclusions

Mobile Drip Irrigation has been shown to be effective in Australian agriculture by decreasing water losses from evaporation and providing agronomic advantages.

Significance of this study

Land and water managers can apply practical experience in this report in designing Mobile Drip Irrigation investments. There is a potential saving of 1,000,000 megalitres across Australia. Efficient irrigation can mean more resilient and regenerative farming systems and catchments across the world.