Water Use in Agriculture

Drip Irrigation:
Pros - Some pros to drip irrigation are that since your concentrating your irrigation to specific plants which prevents weeds from germinating nearby. Also, as you spread your tubing around your plants, the subsequent irrigation provides an even distribution of moisture. As a result, you maintain a healthy soil environment for optimal growth.

Cons -If you have improper drip irrigation installation often culminates into poor root development and die back. For example, looping your tubing too wide or installing a small quantity of water emitters creates drought conditions where roots continually grow.

Sprinkler Irrigation:
Pros - An irrigation sprinkler system is a competent and fast system designed to address your plants’ water needs. It’s the closest you will get to simulating actual rainfall to water your plants. You can place them on pretty much every surface giving you a lot of options.

Cons - The efficiency of sprinkler irrigation can really be affected by wind. Also, with regards to crop sensitivity, some crops are affected from leaf scorch, fungal disease, along with other damage which may be caused by salt being deposited about the leaves. They also cost a ton of money to install.


Surface Irrigation:
Pros - Minimal capital investment or energy costs, and less affected by climatic and water quality factors. Easy to see the effectiveness of the system and how much it helps. They help a lot with floods and help keep the plants healthy for the most part.

Cons - They tend to be less efficient than other systems, and they are very labor intensive and sometimes difficult to engineer. Can be very high possibilities of disease pressure especially if it does flood. Drainage can also be a problem in some circumstances, if it cannot drain properly it'll start to flood causing some diseases to get into the plants.

Farmers should use surface irrigation because it is not expensive and it helps keep the water quality and doesn't make it unhealthy for the plants. The only things are is if it is in an area that gets flooded easily and it wont be as efficient.