As water points within the West endure, Irrigation Innovation Consortium helps trade, college collaborations

A $5 million grant from the nonprofit Basis for Meals and Agriculture Analysis in 2018 has underpinned the consortium’s analysis and engagement actions. IIC has chosen initiatives proposed via annual aggressive analysis calls to help the co-development and testing of applied sciences, determination help methods, and superior irrigation administration methods. Private and non-private companions convey matching help to their initiatives, leading to a complete funding of over $10 million in IIC analysis and outreach actions. Extra just lately, IIC has additionally been in a position to leverage information positive factors and its community to draw extra state and federal funding to develop its attain and affect. 

The IIC, headquartered at Colorado State College, consists of 4 different land-grant universities as founding members: the College of Nebraska-Lincoln, Kansas State College, Texas A&M College, and California State College-Fresno. Unique founding trade companions are Aqua Engineering, Irrigation Affiliation, JAIN Irrigation Inc, LI-COR, CSU STRATA, Lindsay Company, Northern Water Conservation District, Valmont Industries and Rubicon Water. 

Over time, IIC’s community has grown to incorporate greater than 165 researchers, analysis technicians and college students, and greater than 50 personal firms and public entities. (

“IIC-supported analysis outcomes and outreach efforts are contributing to rising curiosity within the vital function of irrigation and the potential to scale affect and use of superior administration instruments and methods by working with organizations just like the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, the Irrigation Affiliation, native water utilities and the California Almond Board,” stated Amy Kremen, IIC’s affiliate director. Kremen has represented Colorado State College on behalf of multi-institution, multi-state initiatives centered on advancing information and follow associated to irrigation administration since 2016, initially with the USDA-NIFA funded Ogallala Water Coordinated Agriculture Venture based mostly at CSU and the Colorado Grasp Irrigator program, earlier than becoming a member of the IIC.                                                           

“The viewers for the findings and outcomes of IIC’s work is giant and rising,” Kremen stated. “It’s an thrilling area to be in, due to relationships, mutual understanding and experience being cast in response to nice want.”