Campbell Scientific gear used in alfalfa flood-irrigation research California: Irrigation Control Alfalfa is a thirsty crop. It uses more than 20 percent of all of the irrigation water in California. The primary way of watering alfalfa is by flood irrigation. This normally results in heavy runoff, which wastes water and sends nutrients from the field into the water supply. To overcome this problem, a group of researchers from MBK Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, and UC Davis recently sought to develop a more efficient way to flood irrigate. Alfalfa fields are divided into long bays called “checks” that are divided by low berms. Each check is flooded from the highest end, and the water flows in a sheet to the lower end. It is difficult to estimate when to shut off

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