HOWELL, Utah — Rob Gibb acknowledges that what he's about to do on his farm is significant.
"It's a big change," the alfalfa farmer said in a recent interview with FOX 13 News.
Gibb has installed a subsurface drip system to irrigate more than 100 acres of his farmland here in Howell.
"It’s one of the first in the state of Utah," said Val Fishman, a consultant with Netafim, a company that manufactures drip irrigation systems.
The drip lines run about a foot under the ground, leading to a pump and filtration system. Solar panels nearby power it. Before this? Gibb said it was always tough to water because of the slope of the land.
"I expect I can save 30%, is what everybody’s telling me," Gibb said of the projected water savings.
Drip irrigation is considered one of the most efficient ways to conserve in agriculture, generating 30% to 50% in water savings (one farmer FOX 13 News spoke with reported as much as 70%). Water is directly applied to the roots. Nutrients can also be pumped directly into the plant, removing evaporation, overspray and other problems.
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What makes Gibb's farm unique is the scale.
"This is super unique. The subsurface drip projects we have done in the past have been much smaller," said Hannah Freeze with the Utah Department of Agriculture & Food, who oversees projects designed to create water efficiencies on farms and ranches.
Gibb said there are many reasons why he picked a subsurface drip irrigation system.
"I’ve heard positive things and I thought, 'You know, this would be ideal here,'" he said. "I would cut my manpower down and be able to get water across the field effectively, use less water."
Gibb grows alfalfa, which has been a much-derided, water-intensive crop as Utah grapples with the impacts of drought, a changing climate and the crises facing the Great Salt Lake and Colorado River. He defends his crops as necessary for feeding cows (some of his crops go north to feed more than 250,000 dairy cows) and helping Utah's economy.
Agriculture is the state's top water user and has faced a lot of pressure from the public to make changes as the Great Salt Lake shrinks. The lake's decline, as a result of water diversion, drought and impacts from climate change, has triggered alarm from the public and political leaders who have rallied to try to save it.
"It makes for a good narrative to look at where the water is going and how do we cut back on that," said Fishman. "Unfortunately, we tend to go to easy solutions like stop growing that crop. That’s a very complicated and not a very great solution for a lot of reasons. There’s a reason alfalfa is grown in the desert. It grows great here in the American southwest."
Netafim has been able to demonstrate that alfalfa can be grown using a subsurface drip system. The Great Salt Lake Collaborative (of which FOX 13 News is a member) observed it during a visit to their facility last year outside Tel Aviv, Israel. But this will be Utah's largest-ever project trying to grow alfalfa with such a system.
"This is one of the first on-the-ground projects to showcase that," Fishman said.
While subsurface drip irrigation is seen as an ideal method to grow crops with less water, it doesn't come cheap. Gibb estimates he's spent at least $2,000 an acre to install the system. He managed to pay for it with some financial assistance from the state and federal governments and even a donation from Swire Coca-Cola.
The Utah State Legislature has funded tens of millions of dollars to get agriculture — the state's top water user — to switch to newer, water-saving technologies. The "agriculture optimization" program is showing success, Freeze said. They have hundreds of farmers who have signed up for some level of assistance to switch to better systems than what they currently have.
"We’ve reduced our water use by about 37,000 acre feet," Freeze told FOX 13 News. "Now getting that 37,000 acre feet to the lake is whole different scenario."
While water savings are being documented, what remains unanswered is if water saved by farms and ranches in the Great Salt Lake Basin is actually getting to the lake. Farmers can file with the state to dedicate their water savings downstream to the lake. But Utah's "first in time, first in right" system of water rights is also a factor.
"We also have other downstream users that are now seeing the benefits of our more efficient agriculture irrigation systems. They’re entitled to use that water as well," Freeze said. "That will just be our next level of conservation. We’re focusing here and then we can move down the line. It’s going to be a process."
Gibb said he will know by next spring if his crops come in just as good, if not better. His fellow agriculture producers, the state and Netafim are also watching.
"We can still get along with the Great Salt Lake and grow our crop and show them we’re improving ourselves and our water usage," Gibb said. "Of course, it’s our livelihood. It's a big investment we made here. We’d just hate to see our land go fallow."
This article is published through the Great Salt Lake Collaborative, a solutions journalism initiative that partners news, education and media organizations to help inform people about the plight of the Great Salt Lake—and what can be done to make a difference before it is too late. Read all of our stories at greatsaltlakenews.org.
