Irrigation Systems

To grow food, water is a must.
To grow a lot of food, a lot of water is a must.
Farmers have been using irrigation systems for centuries.
Well ever since farming has came into practice.
10,000 years ago Maize was domesticated.
From that point agriculture and the art of farming has grown.
There are two different types of irrigation.
Surface irrigation and sprinkler irrigation.
Surface irrigation is the application of water directly onto the surface of the fields.

Picture from http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/irfurrow.html

This is accomplished by flood irrigation, furrow irrigation or gated pipe. These three are all the the same basic method just slightly different systems are used. Surface irrigation is the oldest form of system type irrigation. (In dry land farming, watering is all dependent upon the rain.) Read more about Furrow Irrigation here.

The second type of irrigation is sprinkler irrigation. This type uses pipes and sprinkler heads to water the fields.
Under this type there is many systems.

Solid Systems aka hand lines.
Hand lines are what I grew up moving. They are no fun, yet must be done every morning and night.

Picture of hand lines in my dad's field

Continuous Systems aka pivots

Pivots is my most favored method. These move in circular fashion and water continuously.

Picture my brother took from the top of pivot

Periodic Systems aka wheel lines.

Wheel lines usually are motorized too, but they must be manually connected to the water source. 

There is also a new system out on the market. K-Lines. These are similar to hand lines, yet you can leave the water running in them, hook them to your four-wheeler, and change them.  

Picture from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:WheelLineIrrigation.JPG

Picture from http://www.k-linena.com/new_page_2.htm

Click on the links below for more information.  

Irrigation

Drip Irrigation
Furrow Irrigation