More and more producers are deciding when it's going to rain on their farms. The most recent numbers show there are nearly 275,000 irrigated acres in North Dakota.
But the research also shows that number could nearly triple if the additional number of acres that could be irrigated were developed.
On Thursday, producers learned more about the benefits of irrigation. One farmer KXNews spoke with has been irrigating since 1996, when the french fry plant in Grand Forks, N.D., made the decision to only buy irrigated potatoes.
"It takes one of the variables out,” said grower Robertson Vivatson. “That's the rainfall. On the potato side and some of the specialty crop,s you have to have the rain or water at the right time to have the right quality, and that is where it really shines—especially in the potato business."
Vivatson says there has been a slow and steady increase of irrigated acres in the northeastern part of the state.
Source: KXNews (Bismarck, N.D.)