LEMOORE, Calif., June 24, 2019 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- The Alfalfa Project (TAP), with its game-changing approach to water-saving irrigation techniques in disadvantaged communities in the San Joaquin Valley, is providing a long-awaited and certain path to profitability for the struggling dairy farmers in the region. Critical impacts of the Project include far-reaching financial, environmental and social benefits that promise to bring dramatic gains to the vitality of the California dairy industry, and to disadvantaged communities in the region. As a result of the tremendous amount of irrigation water being conserved, a TAP Water Offset program has been developed so that consumers and businesses can offset their own water use through the purchase of verified Water Offsets.
"Two years of audited field studies show that our Precision Alfalfa Management (PAM) approach used with TAP's Subsurface Drip Irrigation (SDI) is reducing the amount of irrigation water required by nearly one half. We are seeing consistent reductions of 47% in irrigation water needs, compared to formerly inefficient flood and sprinkler systems. By-products of the new system include healthier crops, higher yields, more cuts per season, and generally higher grades of alfalfa, adding up to huge financial relief for struggling dairy farmers," says TAP founder Tyler Bennett. Bennett is a fourth-generation agricultural irrigation specialist in the San Joaquin Valley.
Using dramatically lower amounts of water to produce healthier, better quality alfalfa reduces overhead costs and helps farmers meet impending state-mandated water limits. It protects overtaxed aqueducts, generates more oxygen, and sequesters more carbon within the crop's deep, robust root system. Installation of the subsurface irrigation will ultimately create hundreds of jobs for installers, agronomists, and system operators. All of that will pump more dollars into the San Joaquin Valley's economy, fueling commerce and tax revenues to build the vitality of disadvantaged communities in the region.
The Alfalfa Project replaces existing, inefficient farming methods with forward-focused, highly efficient irrigation technology to bring long-needed change to a struggling dairy industry in the San Joaquin Valley. Its goal is to convert 235,000 acres in the San Joaquin Valley to precision farming practices over the coming 3-5 years. Full project implementation would reduce irrigation water usage by more than 300 billion gallons each year, based on field operations that have been conducted on over 2,200 acres through the past 4 years.
Such dramatic water savings represent the fastest way to better balance water supply and demand in California. Shovel-ready, TAP will allow California to extricate itself from a water crisis faster, eliminating time-consuming political battles and engineering reviews that major infrastructure projects typically require.
Consumers can take advantage of the environmental benefits TAP farmers are creating, by purchasing Water Offsets to neutralize their personal water consumption. Businesses can purchase Water Offsets to affordably balance the water consumed in their operations, while pursuing other long-term conservation measures.
In addition to neutralizing your water consumption, Water Offset purchases support The Alfalfa Project and its farmers, contributing to the accomplishment of the project's ambitious goal—to save 300 billion gallons of water in each of its years of operation. Every Water Offset Certificate is verified by a third party resource and identifies the field number and location where the water was saved, effectively neutralizing the water you've consumed for one year. Learn more on TheAlfalfaProject.com/h2o.
The innovative financing model for The Alfalfa Project is a patent pending approach to resource pooling developed by California Impact Architects (CIA). CIA designs and implements innovative projects in the water sector in California, all of which offer multi-layered financial, environmental and social impacts.
SOURCE The Alfalfa Project.com
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