Irrigation Technology Cost/Benefit Analysis Calculator

Select an irrigation technology to evaluate. Mouse over the parameter names to get more information about the values to be entered in the text boxes. Selecting a technology will populate the values with some defaults to get you started. Estimates were made from 2020 that were increased by 16% inflation to update them to 2023 values. Mouse over the ** next to the values for some notes about the assumptions used for the chosen technology. More information on the assumptions behind the defaults is available here. Your system and fields and costs will be different! You should revise the values to match your situation and so that they are realistic for you. After changing any of the values hit enter, or click out of the text box to recalculate the totals. After changing some values, re-selecting a new technology will overwrite any entered values in the text boxes with new defaults. To be meaningful, the costs should be the difference between what you are currently doing. i.e. the costs more or less than your current practices, not total absolute costs. This is just a calculator and the output depends entirely on the assumptions being correct for your situation. Go here for more information and details on the water savings estimates.

Technology:

General Assumptions	Value		Intermediate Results
Management Cost Rate ($/hr):This is either the rate that you pay a manager, or the opportunity cost of the owner/operator spending their time on this instead of something else.		**No technology chosen, thus no default and no notes!
Labor Cost Rate ($/hr):The rate you pay unskilled labor, or the opportunity cost of the worker spending their time on this instead of something else.		**No technology chosen, thus no default and no notes!
Operating or Equip Loan Interest Rate (%):The interest rate on borrowed money to buy hardware, or the opportunity cost of money spent that would otherwise gain interest.		**No technology chosen, thus no default and no notes!
Inflation Rate (%):This is based on the consumer price index increase and is used to discount the operating and equipment loan interest rates so that all recurring costs can be put into today's dollars.		**No technology chosen, thus no default and no notes!
Irrigation Season Length (weeks):Number of weeks that the irrigation hardware will be used and thus have weekly recurring costs.		**No technology chosen, thus no default and no notes!
Field Size (acres):A full size center pivot is the default field size for comparisons between different technologies. However, sometimes field sizes cannot remain the same, as when converting from wheel lines (rectangular fields) to center pivots (circular fields), for example.		**No technology chosen, thus no default and no notes!
Upfront, One-Time, Non-Recurring Costs	Value		Upfront/Installation Results
Upfront Total Hardware Costs ($):Costs paid for hardware or to a vendor for turn-key operation.		**No technology chosen, thus no default and no notes!
Hardware/Equipment Lifespan (years):Number of years before hardware has to be replaced and upfront costs are again incurred. The annual maintenance costs are included in the annual recurring costs section.		**No technology chosen, thus no default and no notes!
Upfront Management Time Required (hours):Upfront labor for management to spec the system, interact with dealers, buy it and all the parts and to supervise, arrange for, and/or help install it.		**No technology chosen, thus no default and no notes!
Upfront Unskilled Labor Required (hours):Labor to help procure parts and materials, install the new system, and clean up.		**No technology chosen, thus no default and no notes!
Weekly Recurring Cost Assumptions	Value		Weekly Recurring Cost Results
Management Time Required (hrs/week):Additional, or possibly less (negative values) management time per week to make sure the system works properly.		**No technology chosen, thus no default and no notes!
Labor Time Required (hrs/week):Additional, or possibly less (negative values) labor time per week to operate the system.		**No technology chosen, thus no default and no notes!
Ongoing Expenses ($/week):Can include weekly subscription, repair parts, vehicle expenses allocated to this project, etc.		**No technology chosen, thus no default and no notes!
Annual Recurring Cost Assumptions	Value		Annual Recurring Cost Results
Management Time Required (hrs/year):Additional, or possibly less (negative values) management time per year in addition to the weekly recurring efforts to make sure the system works properly.		**No technology chosen, thus no default and no notes!
Labor Time Required (hrs/year):Additional, or possibly less (negative values) labor time per year in addition to the weekly recurring efforts to make sure the system works properly.		**No technology chosen, thus no default and no notes!
Ongoing Expenses ($/year):Additional yearly recurring costs (possibly profits which would be a negative cost) in addition to the weekly recurring costs for parts and/or maintenance.		**No technology chosen, thus no default and no notes!
Crop Yield Impact Assumptions	Value		Crop Yield Impact Results
Estimated Yield Increase (%):This can be based on research information, but is probably going to be a guess. The calculation is going to be very sensitive to this guess however.		**No technology chosen, thus no default and no notes!
Typical Gross Revenue ($/acre):This is how much you typically get paid per acre. Yields x price per yield unit. Don't subtract costs.		**No technology chosen, thus no default and no notes!
Water Savings Assumptions	Value		Water Savings Results
Typical Irrigation Amount (in/yr):The gross amount of irrigation water typically used (net ET/irrigation efficiency). This is used with the % savings estimate to calculate inches of water savings per year.		**No technology chosen, thus no default and no notes!
Irrigation Water Use Efficiency Increase (%):% of total (gross) water use that is conserved. These are short-term water losses and some of the water may eventually be recovered and used.		**No technology chosen, thus no default and no notes!
Water Savings Allocation Assumptions	Value		Water Savings Allocation Results
Savings from reduced evaporation (%):The percent of the conserved water that would have been lost to wind drift and evaporation losses (consumptive use, or ET), that no longer is lost.		**No technology chosen, thus no default and no notes!
Savings from reduced runoff (%):The percent of the conserved water that would have been lost to field runoff, that no longer is lost.		**No technology chosen, thus no default and no notes!
Savings from reduced deep percolation (%):The percent of the conserved water that would have been lost to deep percolation past the bottom of the crop root zone, that no longer is lost.		**No technology chosen, thus no default and no notes!