By Gary Stone, Nebraska Extension Water and Cropping Educator
Crops in the North Platte Valley and the Panhandle are doing well. This is good for the growers as irrigation deliveries will shut down beginning Sept. 16. According to a Pathfinder Irrigation District press release, the Interstate Canal system irrigation deliveries will terminate as water levels in the canal drop. The Supply Canal, High Line Canal, and Low Line Canal will be shut down on Sept. 18, and. irrigation deliveries will terminate as water levels drop in these canals. Growers should schedule their final irrigation accordingly and contact their ditchrider to know when deliveries to their farm will terminate.
Water levels going into the winter at Seminoe Reservoir will be approximately 56 percent or 570,000 acre-feet, Pathfinder Reservoir will be approximately 54 percent or 580,000 acre-feet, and Glendo Reservoir will be approximately 24 percent or 120,000 acre-feet. The drawdown of Glendo to lower levels in the season is normal to allow room in the reservoir for the 2025 irrigation season.
This time of year is also Western Sugar’s early harvest of sugar beets. It started on the first of the month, and the sugar content has been high at 15.4 percent. The dry bean harvest has started, and the replanted dry beans will need an extended fall to take the crop to harvest. Corn is in the dent stage, with some being cut for silage. Millet harvest will commence soon.
A third cutting of alfalfa will begin in several days. Pasture and rangeland remain dry in the northern part of the Panhandle and pose a potential fire hazard.