App Available to Farmers for Rice Irrigation Planning

The mobile application called “Rice Irrigation” helps rice farmers quickly and easily develop a rice irrigation plan. The app was developed right here in Arkansas by Drs. Chris Henry and Dharmendra Saraswat, both with the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture at the time of development.

Rice is the number one export for Arkansas, valued at almost $2 billion per year. Sustainable agricultural production is a concern for many farmers because of irrigation water needs and crop yield.

An irrigation technique called multiple inlet rice irrigation (MIRI) can reduce pumping costs by 25% or more, and increase yields. But developing a MIRI plan can be difficult for farmers because many variables must be considered – how big are the levees, how big is the field, how long should the pipe be, how many holes should the pipe have, etc.

The Rice Irrigation app can take most of the burden off the farmer. The app includes an aerial map so the user can outline things like the area of the field, or the length and placement of levees. Then the user can enter the desired flow rate, and the app will provide the needed pipe size, length, and thickness, the number of holes for each levee, the blue gate settings, and the number of roles for each field.

The overall goal of the app is to help farmers reduce the amount of water needed to grow crops, and ultimately help to ensure long-term water availability for agriculture in Arkansas.

The Arkansas Rice Research and Promotion Board funded the development of the Rice Irrigation app. The app can be found in the app store for Apple devices and in Google Play for android devices. To learn more about MIRI and the Rice Irrigation app, visit with local Agriculture Extension Agents or contact Chris Henry (https://www.uaex.edu/environment-nature/water/irrigation.aspx).