Cooperative Agreement G17AC00321

This $527,360 Project Grant awarded by the United States Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) through the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) program will fund research to support evidence-based policymaking for agricultural water conservation. The key objectives of the 3-year project include: 1) collecting irrigation water rights and runoff data to create a geospatial database, 2) exploring the impact of water rights and supply uncertainty on...

The federal Project Grant award of $999,091 from the USDA's Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) program, effective July 1, 2024 through June 30, 2027, will support research to quantify field to basin-scale water needs and evaluate the conserved consumptive water use from previous water conservation investments in the Southwest and Southern Plains regions. The goal is to understand realistic water savings from conservation investments in these areas facing increasing droughts and...

The Paradise Valley Irrigation District in Blaine County, Montana, was awarded a $580,612 Project Grant from the U.S. Department of the Interior's Bureau of Reclamation under the WaterSMART (Sustain and Manage America's Resources for Tomorrow) federal grant program (CFDA 15.507). The grant funding will be used to convert the remaining one mile of the Hillside Ditch, an open irrigation canal, to a buried pipeline. This conversion is expected to result in annual water savings of 2,275 acre-feet...

The Pondera County Canal and Reservoir Company in northern Montana was awarded a $496,755 Project Grant from the U.S. Department of the Interior's Bureau of Reclamation under the WaterSMART (Sustain and Manage America's Resources for Tomorrow) program (CFDA 15.507) on August 30, 2023. This funding will enable the company to install a Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system and flow measurement weirs at two canal headworks locations. It will also automate three gates at the...

This Project Grant award, valued at $650,000 and awarded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) through the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) program, aims to empirically assess the importance and sustainability of adaptive irrigation under climate change. The three key objectives are: 1) estimating the link between extreme heat and adaptive irrigation, 2) predicting groundwater stock dynamics under climate change, and 3) analyzing...

The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation awarded a $407,272 Project Grant under the WaterSMART (Sustain and Manage America's Resources for Tomorrow) program (CFDA 15.507) to the Lower Yellowstone Irrigation Project Board of Control in Sidney, MT. The funding will be used to replace the existing 200-horsepower pump at the Thomas Point Pumping Plant with a new primary pump with a variable frequency drive, motor, switchgear, and remote monitoring and control system. This is expected to result in annual water...

The Pondera County Canal and Reservoir Company in Montana received a $488,131 Project Grant from the U.S. Department of the Interior's Bureau of Reclamation under the WaterSMART (Sustain and Manage America's Resources for Tomorrow) Grant Program (CFDA 15.507). The grant will be used to automate the Birch Creek diversion by installing a Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system and flow measurement devices throughout the irrigation system. This project is expected to result in...

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture awarded a $740,000 Project Grant under the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) program to Colorado State University (CSU) to develop and pilot an integrated software technology to help agricultural producers make smart irrigation water and nutrient management choices. The project aims to improve crop yield, conserve water, and enhance water quality by assimilating interconnected soil moisture,...

The Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture awarded a $745,200 Project Grant under the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (CFDA 10.310) to the Board Of Regents Of The Nevada System Of Higher ED, doing business as the University Of Nevada, Reno. This grant aims to develop an open-source, site-specific irrigation decision support system (DSS) to help farmers in the western U.S. more effectively manage deficit irrigation for crops like alfalfa, corn, and cotton....

Montana State University was awarded a $177,674 Project Grant from the US Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture under the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative competitive grants program. The grant will support applied research and analysis of federal approaches to rural infrastructure investment through 2024. Specifically, the awardee will conduct a national policy analysis using expert interviews and compare three case studies of federally-subsidized...