Netafim Landscape Controllers
WASHINGTON, DC, March 21, 2016 -- The first sustainable farming initiative leveraging Israel's unparalleled research and innovation in water technology to reduce rice crop water use will begin this spring at Conaway Ranch in Woodland, California. The project was announced in a plenary session at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) Policy Conference in Washington, DC on March 21.
“We believe this initiative represents the first use of drip irrigation in the U.S. for a rice crop,” explains Kyriakos Tsakopoulos, president, principal and chief executive officer of Conaway Preservation Group, which owns the 17,000 acre Conaway Ranch. “We couldn't ask for better partners – Ben-Gurion University of the Negev's Zuckerberg Institute for Water Research, and Netafim USA, the world’s leading drip irrigation manufacturer - both of whom have experience growing rice in arid regions. This effort could serve as a model for other farms and potentially save hundreds of thousands of acre feet of water in California if widely adopted.”
Drought is a continued concern for growers in California, and this project seeks to better understand if rice can be grown effectively with sub-surface drip irrigation. The method consists of a series of pipes that deliver water directly to the root zone of the plant and has the potential to reduce rice crop water usage, as well as save on application of fertilizers and improve weed control.
“As a partner in this cutting-edge project, we are hopeful that this concept could provide farmers with a revolutionary form of rice production not only in California, but wherever rice is grown worldwide,” says Bryce Lundberg, vice president of agriculture for Lundberg Family Farms, which is one of the world’s largest producers of organic rice and whole grain products. “We are always looking to implement new technologies that can benefit growers and promote sustainable farming practices, and we hope that the project’s success can be duplicated to improve organic weed management while producing environmental and conservation benefits.”
Over the past 18 months, BGU Professor Eilon Adar has visited several times to meet with California legislators and water resource officials discussing how Israel, an arid country, has created a surplus of water through innovation, technology and effective water management policies. For this project, Conaway Ranch executives are leveraging the expertise of Prof. Adar, who is one of Israel's leading water experts and a professor in the Zuckerberg Institute at BGU’s Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research.