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UC irrigation specialist Goldhamer says less water makes more cents to farmers

Posted by: Maven on March 31, 2009 at 11:25 am

From the Amador Ledger Dispatch:

When University of California Cooperative Extension irrigation specialist David Goldhamer began toying with the concept of deficit irrigation in the early 1980s, even he never imagined the potential.

Traditionally in irrigated agriculture, farmers want to give crops all the water they can drink. Goldhamer’s three decades of research has shown that knowing when to withhold water from tree crops and when to quench the crops’ thirst are powerful tools for dealing with drought, plant disease and fruit quality.

Goldhamer’s focus on deficit irrigation continues uninterrupted even as California experiences ebbs and flows in annual rain and snow. Public interest slows when water is abundant, but since Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declared the state in a drought emergency in February, it is again rising to a crescendo.

Goldhamer’s office at the UC Kearney Research and Extension Center near Parlier has all the trappings of a long career in scientific research. The walls are concealed by bookshelves overloaded with irrigation literature. Mementos, conference proceedings, research papers and reference books share space with an old box of Corn Flakes, dusty cans of tuna and aseptic fruit cups, remnants of a short-lived effort to eat healthier. A half-full container of Tootsie Rolls sits on the desk. “I can’t remember how or why they arrived,” he said.

But there is definite purpose behind a model of the Wright Brothers’ airplane that sits next to two oversized Apple computer monitors. “The Wright Brothers’ first airplane flight was in 1903. In 1969, astronauts landed on the moon,” he said. “In just 66 years – six and a half decades – science advanced that much. It gives me motivation to do my work.”

Goldhamer knows he could never hope to make such rapid progress in irrigation science, if for no other reason than the lack of the copious research funding made available to the U.S. space program. But agricultural science made a significant leap when Goldhamer began conducting deficit irrigation research projects with UC Cooperative Extension farm advisors early in his career.

Read more from the Amador Ledger Dispatch by clicking here.

March 31, 2009 · Filed Under Agriculture

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