Arkansas Rice Pump Cuts Irrigation Water 27% and Enters Commercial Sales
A patented Arkansas irrigation system that recycles runoff from furrow irrigated rice is now commercially available after more than a decade of research, engineering and farm testing. The University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture announced the licensing move on 10 November, shifting the technology from a long running field project into a product farmers can buy.
The important result is not simply that another pump reached the market. In a three year comparison reported by the university, the system used 16.1 acre inches of irrigation water against 22.1 acre inches under conventional three day furrow irrigation. Rice yield averaged 190.4 bushels an acre with the system, compared with 175.1 bushels an acre under the conventional treatment.
What has changed
The university licensed the Pit less Tailwater Pump to Irrigation Mart, making it commercially available. The system is designed for farmer installation, uses relatively little power and can be moved between suitable fields. Its purpose is to recover water that reaches the lower end of a furrow and return it to the field instead of allowing that water to leave the production system.
That commercial step matters because many promising irrigation concepts remain tied to a research plot or require farm infrastructure that is difficult to reproduce. Licensing does not prove broad adoption, but it creates a route for growers to test the system outside the original research program.
The field numbers
The six acre inch reduction equals about 27 percent less applied irrigation water in the comparison. At the same time, the reported yield advantage was 15.3 bushels an acre. The university also calculated a 24 percent improvement in total water use efficiency.
Those results address a practical tension in rice production. A water saving system has limited value if it protects an aquifer but sharply reduces output. Here the research result points in the other direction, although it remains a specific comparison rather than a guarantee for every field, soil, season or management program.
Why row rice changes the economics
Furrow irrigated row rice can fit more easily into a rice and soybean rotation than fields managed with levees. University researchers estimated that avoiding the tillage and labor needed to remove levees and return a field to furrow production can save 95 dollars an acre or more.
Earlier university work found conventional furrow rice yielded 16.7 fewer bushels an acre than levee rice. With the tailwater system, yields were not different from nearby flooded fields in the reported research. That finding is central to the commercial case because it suggests water recovery may narrow a production gap that has discouraged some growers.
What the evidence does not yet show
The announcement does not disclose a retail price, so a farm level payback calculation is not yet possible. It also does not establish maintenance costs, service life, labor requirements during a full season or performance in soils and climates beyond the tested Arkansas conditions.
Commercial availability therefore begins the next evidence stage rather than ending it. Adoption data, verified performance on more farms, electricity use and repair records will show whether the reported water and yield advantages survive at scale. Growers will also need to compare the system with other water management options and with the value of water in their own operation.
The university noted that the system may qualify for assistance through the United States Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service Environmental Quality Incentives Program. The current Arkansas application deadline is 20 November, but eligibility and support depend on the individual operation.
Sources and method
Agrilinkage reviewed the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture announcement and field results. The analysis compares the reported treatments and separates university findings from questions that remain open after commercialization. Agrilinkage did not test the equipment and did not conduct interviews for this article.
Cover image: original conceptual editorial illustration showing a generic tailwater recovery pump in a row rice field. It does not depict the patented product or a named farm.
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