Bend Bulletin: From flood to pivot, farmers embrace modern irrigation systems
By Michael Kohn
CLOVERDALE — On a hot afternoon in early September, Tygh Redfield stood on the edge of his hay field and surveyed the landscape. In the distance, a massive metal pivot slowly circled the ground, spraying cool water over the green pasture.
A few feet behind Redfield were the remnants of the canal that used to deliver water to the farm. It hadn’t been used for a decade and was now dry and weedy with a few large rocks at its base. Cottonwood trees loomed over the canal, surviving even though the canal seepage that once fed them had disappeared. The new pipe that ended the life of the seeping canal lies buried nearby. The setup saves his farm when water is scarce.
“You can’t always depend on having full production. If we had had a short water year, I’d lose half my crop,” said Redfield. “But now I don’t have to worry about that.”
The contrast between Redfield’s modern pivot and the bone-dry canal is emblematic of the changes occurring to the way publicly owned irrigation water is used across Central Oregon.
Canals are being replaced with modern pipes and flood irrigation setups are likewise being converted into fields that can accommodate sprinkler systems. The work is being done largely to meet environmental rules laid down by the Deschutes Basin Habitat Conservation Plan, which seeks to increase winter flows in the Deschutes River.
Three Sisters Irrigation District, where Redfield is a patron, has been a pioneer in this effort and has nearly all its patrons on sprinkler systems.
Years of work ahead
But the move away from flood irrigation to sprinklers remains a slow process. Years, perhaps decades, could pass before every farm in Central Oregon transitions away from flood irrigation.
Jeremy Austin, wild lands and water program director for Central Oregon LandWatch, notes that some districts are ahead of others in the goal of getting systems more water efficient, and a lot of that has to do with farmer needs.
Patrons in North Unit Irrigation District, for example, have already switched to more efficient on-farm infrastructure due to their junior water right status and the strong incentive to be efficient with limited water, said Austin.
Meanwhile, Central Oregon Irrigation District, which provides water to around 3,500 patrons, mainly in central Deschutes County, has some catching up to do.
“In places around Bend and Redmond, like COID, large numbers of irrigators still utilize flood irrigation and most rely on inefficient conveyance infrastructure such as unpiped privately owned ditches and canals,” said Austin. “We still have a long way to go to improve on-farm efficiency in those areas.”
Just part of the puzzle
Austin adds that switching from flood irrigation to sprinklers is just part of the larger puzzle. Farms also need to pipe their private laterals and irrigation districts need to pipe their main canals. These changes create the water pressure needed to make pivots and sprinklers operate at a low cost, compared to using pumps.
“We need better incentives for senior irrigation districts to become more efficient and we need irrigation districts to help develop a coordinated plan for how to scale efforts to increase efficiency beyond the irrigation district’s point of delivery,” said Austin. “Until then, progress on improving on-farm infrastructure will continue to be slow.”
Beyond physical improvements, market-based solutions like water banks are also considered important to make sure water flows to those who actually need it.
“The water bank and market-based approaches can really scale up when we have those piped systems in place because it’s easier for the districts to deliver less water when people want less,” said Kate Fitzpatrick, the executive director of the Deschutes River Conservancy. “We’re pouring as much energy and money into the district modernization programs as we can right now.”
Funding for projects
Paying for projects is another hurdle because securing grant money takes time and isn’t guaranteed, especially in an age when government contracts are coming under greater scrutiny.
But grants are still coming. The Deschutes Soil and Water Conservation District recently completed 15 on-farm flood-to-sprinkler conversion projects, with $300,000 in funding assistance from the American Rescue Plan Act. Projects ranged from four to 18 acres.
More money is headed to COID from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The district has secured $5 million from USDA to pay for on-farm improvements over the next six to 12 months. These funds will mainly pay for the piping of private laterals, giving farmers greater access to pressurized water.
There’s another benefit of piping laterals — low energy costs gained from using hydraulic pressure. One farm near Smith Rock recently cuts its monthly power bill from $4,600 to $1,000, said Jessi Talbot, director of water rights for the district.
“By enabling access to pressurized water, these projects help farmers maximize the beneficial use of their water rights, reduce waste, and expand opportunities for cultivating high-value and water-efficient crops that support local communities,” Talbot said in an email.
Reluctance to change
Back on Redfield’s property, the 75-year-old unfolded a satellite image of his farm from a decade ago showing how it used to look before the conversion to a pivot. Tracing his finger over the paper, he pointed out the long rectangular rows of earth where water once filled from the canal.
Although he was reluctant to change a system he knew well, there were too many reasons to not move forward.
There were the environmental benefits: more water for Whychus Creek. And the cost benefits: even when water deliveries dropped to 50% he could still water his entire crop. The pivot system was also easier to use and eliminated the need to repair and maintain four miles of ditches on his land.
“You don’t really appreciate everything until you switch over and you realize how easy it is,” he said.
Redfield said he was late to convert to sprinklers because he had gotten used to the water running through the open canal and fields. He enjoyed the aesthetic quality of flood irrigation.
“There was a certain cadence to the property that I enjoyed, a rhythm, to see the water flowing across the big field,” he said.
But he also recognized that a century of poorly managed irrigation practices wasn’t sustainable and saw that he could play a role in improved water savings.
“We are on a trend toward less water delivery due to climate change,” said Redfield. “I’ve been here for 53 years and I have seen these cycles. Even though it’s been a pretty good year we are in a downturn. So everyone has the responsibility to do what they can to make the water work.”
Read more at: https://bendbulletin.com/2025/09/12/from-flood-to-pivot-farmers-embrace-modern-irrigation-systems/
Main Photo: Tygh Redfield stands in front of a pivot irrigation system he helped install on a field he owns near his home in Cloverdale. Redfield said he switched to the pivot system after piping began on the canal behind his home in 2016. 09/04/25 (Joe Kline/The Bulletin)
