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<br />en <br />.::;) <br /> <br />.......... <br />". <br />..-4 <br /> <br />-, <br /> <br />;:,~' <br /> <br />The majo... on-fa...m economic benefits de...ived f...om i......igation <br />imp...ovements stem f...om labo... savings, dec...eased machine...y use, less <br />wate... appl ication and yield inc...eases. labo... savings include savings <br />in i......igation labo..., field maintenance labo..., and delive...y maintenance <br />labo.... The total labo... savings f...om all th...ee catego...ies ave...aged 3.2 <br />hou...s/ac...e/season fo... c...opland and 27.2 hou...s/ac...e/season fo... <br />o...cha...ds. <br /> <br />Machine...y use in maintaining field and del ive...y po...tions of the <br />i......igation system also showed savings, but conside...ably less than <br />labo... savings. A few hou...s could be saved pe... season by upg...ading a <br />typical i......igation system. Machine types include backhoes, ditche...s, <br />and sp...aying equipment. Monetizing the savings to equipment use would <br />depend on the specific machine used to maintain the system. <br /> <br />Data on numbe... of i......igations pe... season showed no change. Howeve..., <br />total season wate... use dec...eased, about 1.5 ac...e feet pe... ac...e on <br />c...opland and 3.5 ac...e feet pe... ac...e on o...cha...ds. These savings can be <br />att...ibuted to essentially el iminating late...al and ditch seepage, <br />bette... wate... cont...ol affo...ded by the new system, and imp...oved <br />i......igation wate... management. These wate... savings occu......ed even though <br />wate... bi lis did not ...eflect diminished withd...awals. Numbe... of <br />i......igations and wate... use could dec...ease some mo...e as fa...me...s lea...n <br />mo...e about i......igation wate... management th...ough technical help f...om SCS <br />and Extension pe...sonnel. <br /> <br />Gene...ally field c...op yields we...e impacted less than o...cha...d c...ops. <br />O...cha...d sites monito...ed tended to be i......igated unde... ve...y inefficient <br />systems in the befo...e condition. The sizeable c...op yield inc...eases <br />...epo...ted a...e due to imp...oved wate... adequacy, mo...e timely wate...ing, and <br />mo...e unifo...m wate... appl ication. The typical p...oduce... is ...eal izing a <br />yield imp...ovement as a ...esult of applying salinity cont...ol p...actices. <br /> <br />Othe... benefits have been uncove...ed on some sites. These additional <br />benefits include less ditch sp...aying, imp...ovements in cultu...al <br />ope...ation efficiency, easie... ha...vesting, fewe... field weed p...oblems, <br />and inc...eased p...oduction ac...eage. <br /> <br />The data co II ected so fa... suggest an ove...a II pos i t i ve <br />(imp...oved ...evenue) fo... the individual fa...me.... Publ ic <br />on-fa...m imp...ovements is p...oving to be cost effective. <br />indicated by the amount of seepage and salt ...eduction <br />th...ough installation of imp...oved i......igation p...actices <br />p...og...am (Refe... to Append i x C). <br /> <br />economic benefit <br />investment in <br />Th i s is <br />obtained to date <br />unde... the CRSC <br /> <br />Detai led discussions on economic monito...ing and evaluation ...esults can <br />be found in Pa...t 3 of the 1988 Annual M&E Repo...t. <br /> <br />42 <br />