Science NewsBlog: Deep Thoughts on Irrigation, Golf

If you're growing a field of corn in a dry climate, it makes sense to irrigate the fields. Give the crops a good drenching every so often, and they'll grow better. Conservationists, on the other hand, will tell you that the drenching is a water-waster. Better, their logic goes, to use drip irrigation or other frugal methods.

ScienceNOW Managing Editor Erik Stokstad consulted Ray Huffaker, an economist at Washington State University in Pullman. And Huffaker offers a surprising view: "Intentional flooding" of crop fields actually recharges the aquifer. Which means that drip irrigation is bad for the aquifer. (Read Stokstad's full report at the Science NewsBlog.)

At the Science NewsBlog, you'll also find out that superstar golfer Tiger Woods did himself a favor when he had a really bad year (relatively).

19 February 2007