The Circle C Water Technology Farm is owned and operated by Steve Compton with two different locations included in the Tech Farm. The Scott County farm ground is located 8 miles west of Healy, Kansas off Highway 4 at the intersection with N Taos Road and the Lane County farm ground is located 3.5 miles northwest of Healy, KS.

His goals with the farm are maintaining production while increasing water use efficiency. The fields enrolled in the farm have had field mapping completed to identify management zones and locate where soil moisture probes were to be installed. The section size pivot is the site of some water application comparisons with different nozzle packages and variable rate irrigation. Aerial imagery is being collected to monitor the results and then evaluate the impacts of different water management strategies. Along with the technology, this farm had been enrolled in a Water Conservation Area (WCA) with the Kansas Department of Agriculture-Division of Water Resources. More information about WCAs can be found here (https://agriculture.ks.gov/divisions-programs/dwr/managing-kansas-water-resources/wca).

Technology

For the 2020 season, the farm will continue to conduct soil field mapping along with aerial imagery to provide additional information on the status of the soil health, moisture, and yield of the crops. There are several technologies and services being utilized including EC soils mapping of all fields, soil moisture probes, variable rate irrigation, iWobs and Bubbler nozzles, and aerial imagery, cover crops during the off-season. The larger (sectional) pivot in Scott County is utilizing various water application comparisons with different nozzle packages and variable rate irrigation.

Water Conservation Areas

The Scott County Circle C Water Technology Farm is based on a 15 year Water Conservation Area (WCA) with three 5 year periods, which add flexibility to water use over the term of the WCA. The WCA includes a 10 percent reduction of water use and the ability to rollover any unused quantity to future years, creating a tool that can be used for multi-year water and cropping planning purposes. Water not used in a wet year is able to be rolled over and used in a future dry year. More information about WCA's can be found here.