14 CapitalPress.com
April 22, 2016
Southern Idaho grower raising hay with buried drip
By JOHN O’CONNELL
Capital Press
RAFT RIVER, Idaho —
Farmer Todd Garrett believes
water has become a precious
enough commodity in south-
east Idaho to justify his in-
vestment in costly buried drip
irrigation at a commercial
scale.
On April 15, Garrett fin-
ished installing drip lines
buried a foot deep and spaced
36 inches apart on an 80-
acre field. He’ll plant alfalfa
this season, but Garrett said
the spacing of the drip lines
makes drip potato production
a future possibility.
He’s seeking solutions
to address a water shortage
within a designated critical
area of the Raft River Aqui-
fer, knowing he could soon
be expected to dry 200 acres
irrigated by so-called expan-
sion water rights — in which
growers who didn’t fully uti-
lize groundwater rights years
ago were allowed to add new
pivots elsewhere.
In addition to buried drip,
he’ll experiment this sea-
son with a pivot dragging
John O’Connell/Capital Press
Workers on Todd Garrett’s farm in Raft River, Idaho, install drip tape on an 80-acre field in rows buried
a foot deep and 36 inches apart. Garrett is experimenting with buried drip and other novel approaches
to irrigation to help conserve groundwater.
drip tape and Low Elevation
Spray Application. LESA,
which entails running pivots
with low-pressure nozzles
dangling about a foot off the
ground, was developed by
University of Idaho irrigation
specialist Howard Neibling
and his Washington State
University counterpart, Troy
Peters.
Garrett will use identical
water meters on each system,
plus a standard pivot with a
new irrigation package as a
control, to evaluate which
option provides the most
per-gallon water savings for
the money. Each field has sim-
ilar soil and will be planted in
alfalfa. He’ll host a field day
in mid-July, after his second
cutting, to share his results.
“I want to see what is going
to be the most economical for
me, the most user-friendly and
the most maintenance-friend-
ly,” Garrett said. “I wanted to
do it in full-scale-production-
sized fields so it’s real-world,
real-life scenarios.”
Based on prior testing,
Garrett said buried drip —
which recycles unused water
in a closed system — should
cut his water use by 40 to 60
percent, compared with 15 to
20 percent with LESA and 20
to 25 percent with drag-drip.
Garrett said buried drip
costs about $2,000 per acre to
install, and he’ll likely soon
expand to 160 acres, which
would equal the capacity of
his new buried-drip sediment
filtration system. He hopes to
lease the buried-drip ripper he
purchased to other regional
growers installing buried drip,
or to custom install for them.
Neibling, who will help
Garrett evaluate data, ex-
plained surface drip systems
are widely used in high-val-
ue crops, such as mint and
onions, in Western Idaho,
but buried drip systems are a
rarity in the state. In Western
Idaho, Neibling said rodents
have posed an obstacle to bur-
ied drip, and he anticipates
LESA and drag-drip will pro-
vide Garrett the best return for
his investment.
Neibling said all three op-
tions should provide ample
water savings, but growers
will likely adopt “the easiest
option to install and manage
and the cheapest, particularly
because it’s something they’re
used to.”
Butte Irrigation, the Israeli
drip-irrigation manufacturer
Netafim and buried-drip ex-
pert Jerry Funck, with Pro-
fessional Water Management
Associates in Lubbock, Tex-
as, are also helping Garrett set
up the trials. Garrett traveled
to Lubbock to see growers’
water-efficient systems and
was impressed that many bur-
ied-drip systems were still
working well after more than
15 years. He’ll run rodenti-
cide through his drip lines to
prevent chewing, and herbi-
cide to keep roots from grow-
ing into lines, and he’ll use an
additive to avoid calcium de-
posits. He’ll limit tillage to no
deeper than 4 inches.
Funck said his state has
about 600,000 acres of bur-
ied drip, and they’ve boosted
yields while curbing water
and power use. He said sys-
tems also precisely deliver
fertilizer exactly where crops
need it.
“I think it’s ripe for drip in
Eastern Idaho,” Funck said.
Kathy Keatley Garvey/UC-Davis photo
Kathy Keatley Garvey/UC-Davis photo
Ryan Anenson of the Tremont 4-H
Club, Dixon, Calif., sews a
“Cuddle Me Close” blanket.
Wyatt Morris, 6, of the Vaca Valley 4-H Club
Kathy Keatley Garvey/UC-Davis photo in Vacaville, Calif., learns how to sew a
“Cuddle Me Close” blanket from Erica Lull
4-H leader Audrey Ritchey of the Tremont 4-H
of the Tremont 4-H Club, Dixon, Calif.
Club, Dixon, Calif., shows Lillie Sheppard of the
Vaca Valley 4-H Club, Vacaville, Calif., how to
make a “Cuddle Me Close” cover-up.
By KATHY KEATLEY GARVEY
University of California-Davis
DIXON, Calif. — You can’t get any closer than “Cuddle Me Close.”
It’s a soft, flannel blanket or cover-up that provides privacy to breastfeeding mothers and their newborns, but it’s much more than that.
It’s a 4-H project launched in 2013 by longtime Dixon 4-H leader Audrey Ritchey, an X-ray technician at the North Bay Medical Center
in Fairfield. It helps promote breastfeeding and its many health and bonding benefits. To date, Solano County 4-H’ers, under Ritchey’s
direction, have sewn 1,000 one-yard blankets for the new moms at North Bay.
“I was told that one mom started to cry when she got the cover-up,” Ritchey said. “She stated that it was the only thing she had for her
baby.
“Two years ago, a Girl Scout troop donated $250 from their cookie sales. Many nurses have donated their Christmas gift cards to the
project.”
Ritchey, a co-community leader of the Tremont 4-H Club in Dixon and vice president of the Solano County 4-H Leaders’ Council,
recalled that “three years ago I thought that 4-H was missing an opportunity to share the 4-H program with new moms at North Bay.”
She contacted a director at North Bay and learned about “a baby-friendly program that encourages
new moms to breastfeed and have skin-to-skin contact with their newborns.”
So Ritchey, along with some 4-H members and their parents, gave birth, so to speak, to the “Cuddle
Me Close” cover-up project using her own pattern and sewing machines.
“The five youth currently in our service-learning project make many blankets each time we meet,”
she said. Many other 4-H’ers of all ages in Solano County make them during countywide events or
at home, she said.
Ritchey applied for and received a Revolution of Responsibility grant. They’ve toured the North
Bay Medical Center. They’ve given presentations at the hospital and at club and community events.
The project is closely linked to the 4-H Pledge — “I pledge my head to clearer thinking; my heart
to greater loyalty; my hands to larger service; and my health to better living — for my club, my
community, my country and my world.”
Ritchey says the youngsters in her project not only learn how to sew, but learn to connect with one
another, learn to budget and fulfill a public service need.
Studies show that breast milk contains antibodies that help babies fight off viruses and bacteria and
lowers the risk of allergies, ear infections, respiratory illnesses and bouts of diarrhea. Breastfed
babies have a lower risk of childhood obesity.
Ritchey said the project “promotes mother-baby bonding through skin-to-skin contact, supports
positive and physical and mental development, is healthier for mother and child and is inexpensive
in comparison to formula.”
“As long as I have youth that want to do this I will keep making them,” Ritchey vows.
In addition to the sewing project, Ritchey teaches a number of countywide 4-H projects, including
poultry, rabbits and cavies (guinea pigs).
For information on the Solano County 4-H Program, access http://cesolano.ucanr.edu/
or contact Valerie Williams at vawilliams@ucanr.edu or (707) 784-1319.
For donations of fabric or funds to the “Cuddle Me Close” 4-H project,
contact Audrey Ritchey at ritcheysribbits@gmail.com
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