Link to PDF Amber Kirkpatrick , MSU Water Quality Associate Jim Bauder, MSU Water Quality Specialist Linzy Browning , Montana State University Reagan Waskom, Colorado State University Matt Neibauer, Colorado State University Grant Cardon, Utah State University

Irrigation management involves commitment of substantial time, capital, labor, equipment, and water. Lack of any of these resources can mean the difference between profit and loss. In the past decade, drought throughout much of Montana and the Northern Plains and Mountains region has caused water supplies to become increasingly inadequate to satisfy crop moisture needs during the entire irrigation season. With this in mind, Montana State University Extension Water Quality Program has produced a user friendly publication containing practical, low cost strategies to help irrigators achieve highest possible economic returns with limited water. Such strategies include fine tuning irrigation scheduling to optimize water use efficiency, capturing and storing precipitation, and growing crops well suited to limited irrigation. Primary emphasis of this publication is placed on analyzing commonly irrigated determinate, indeterminate, and forage crops in terms of water use characteristics and effective management to maximize their production. While drought poses many challenges to irrigators, strategies outlined in this publication can help ease the burden of limited water supplies.