Growers are trying to retain their fertilizer, which is considerably more expensive than it was five or 10 years ago. Many growers are reluctant to switch to drip irrigation because of the high cost of installing a system. However, scientists at WSU are finding that hop yards irrigated and chemigated with an underground system have higher yields. With an optimal irrigation system that uses water sensors to determine the plants needs, we're getting about a 10 percent increase in hop cone production over the standard method of producing hops. While initial costs are high, in the long run an underground irrigation and chemigation system is cost effective, he said.
Researchers are finding with the more efficient underground pest control, less pesticide is needed.
There's also savings for the farm worker. Spraying the pesticide on the plants potentially exposes a worker's skin and lungs to the chemicals. Underground pesticide application vastly improves worker safety. In addition, growers don't have pesticide waste water to dispose of. Hop growers are required to have retaining tanks to wash their pesticide application equipment.