Abstract
Idaho’s Snake River Plain is a prolific agricultural area reliant on the highly productive Snake River and Snake River Aquifer for irrigation. Climatic shifts, increasing global food demand, and regulatory issues contribute to the strain on the region’s water resources. Numerous technologies have been developed to increase water application efficiency and aid in precise irrigation scheduling. This thesis explores the utility of technology in irrigation management to provide resources for water users seeking to improve their water management while maintaining high crop yields. The utility of irrigation scheduling tools, including soil moisture sensors and the Washington State University Irrigation Scheduler, was explored in commercial, cultivated sugarbeet fields. Sugarbeet root yield responses to soil water deficits combined with environmental effects were explored. Different commercially available soil moisture sensors were evaluated in terms of their accuracy and precision in five different locations containing representative Idaho agricultural soils. A simple water balance was calculated under adjacent Low Elevation Sprinkler Application (LESA) and Mid Elevation Sprinkler Application (MESA) pivot systems to quantify differences in the soil water environment under each. The widespread adoption of technology in agricultural applications hinges on the availability of accessible information and support.