Nebraska Tour Generates New Ideas Among Kiwi Farmers and Irrigation Experts By Andrew Curtis
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farming families had to leave the land. After the Depression, they started to adopt better land management practices to keep their topsoil. They also invested in irrigation systems, and the state is now very productive,” says Paul Jarman, a farmer from Darfield, New Zealand, who joined the tour. By 1932, 750,000 acres of farmland had been abandoned in Nebraska due to soil erosion and dust storms. One of the worst dust storms occurred on April 14, 1935—Black Sunday— when strong winds blew an estimated 300 million tons of topsoil from the prairie states as far as the East Coast and Washington, DC, turning the sky black in its path. More recently, Nebraska has experienced some of the problems New Zealand is currently focused on. Nitrates in groundwater are a significant concern. However, the state has managed to turn around the trend of increasing nitrate levels in many areas.
ABOVE: The tour group visits a property in Lincoln County that was purchased by a consortium of natural resources districts, replanted with native grasses, and had its water use retired to boost local river flows.
"While New Zealand generally requires that individual farmers cut back activities, Nebraska takes a more holistic approach." —KERI JOHNSTON IRRIGATION LEADER
PHOTOS COURTESY OF ANDREW CURTIS.
party of 25 New Zealand irrigators, farm and environmental consultants, and irrigation scheme and service industry representatives has returned from a trip to Nebraska with some fresh ideas about how to improve environmental management in New Zealand. The 5-day trip was organized by IrrigationNZ, a member-funded industry group that supports excellence in irrigation. The group, which included 15 farmers, visited the Husker Harvest Days, the world’s largest irrigated farm show; the University of Nebraska’s Water for Food Global Institute; research farms and research trials; irrigation districts; natural resources districts, which manage water resources; and irrigation manufacturers. “It was really interesting to hear the history of Nebraska from different experts. Nebraska was one of the states which was devastated by the Dust Bowl storms in the Depression, and
