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<br />2) Apply water in season, quantity and areas chosen to minimize the pE~rcent <br />available for evaporation from surface laye!rs. Addit ions made in cool <br />moist seasons do this. Large applications would do this; thert:!forE~, <br />seeding to increase volume, or especiallydluration, of storms ,~ould be more <br />desira,b1e than to create new storms. For the High Plains region the <br />naturally wet seasons, spring and fall, offer excellent seeding <br />opportunities as long as unfilled storage c:apacity remains in the soil. <br />Thirdly, limited resources should not be diffused over large areas. <br /> <br />3) Break droughts before they begin. Plant production per unit of water <br />applied in a drought season would likely be! low because it would re~main in <br />evaporation-susceptible surface layers and because plant production will be <br />postponed until drought shock, or late season, has caused photosynthates to <br />be reallocated to below-ground storage. <br /> <br />4) Unless the vegetation composition wl1sto be~ changed, water should be <br />provided in seasons of natural rainfall. In the northern plains, for <br />example, fall see'dingmight favor weeds (e.g. bromus and mustar species) <br />and crops of fall-wet regions. <br /> <br />5) These recommendations encourage winter orographic seeding for irrigation <br />water, eatly spri.ngseeding to fill soil profiles and late spring seeding <br />to keep them topped off for early summer production. This praceicewou1d <br />be consistent with production of winter whe,at and barley, but might <br />interfere with spring seeding .of other crops. This stategy would likely <br />increase the variance in crop production by increasing wet year yields <br />proportionally more than diyyear yields. Under such conditions, social <br />good and farmer incomes might be maximized by storing grain from rich to <br />poor yields. <br /> <br />51 <br /> <br />