Program & Partners:
The North Plains Groundwater Conservation District (North Plains GCD) has funds available at 2.59 percent interest for the purchase of certain high-efficiency irrigation equipment. The loans to growers are the result of a $1,000,000 low-interest loan to the North Plains GCD approved July 2019 by the Texas Water Development Board (TWDB).

Use of Funds:
Loans can be used for center pivot replacements and conversions, pivot monitoring and control systems,  and other irrigation efficiency tools subject to the discretion of the board of directors.

Purpose:
This TWDB funding will be used to help producers replace inefficient equipment with water-saving technology and ultimately keep thousands of acre-feet of water in the Ogallala aquifer. Outdated irrigation systems deliver water to crops less efficiently than newer systems. For example, a mid-elevation spray application center pivot system, known as MESA, has a 78% application efficiency. LEPA, low-energy precision application, is a system developed in the Texas Panhandle in the 1980s that operates at 95% efficiency. For a typical 125-acre, quarter-mile pivot-irrigated field, an upgrade to LEPA from MESA can save an agricultural producer 41 acre-feet (over 13 million gallons) of water in a growing season.

Eligibility:
The loans are available only to growers within the North Plains GCD boundaries and are subject to credit approval.

Download the loan application here

Screening Application & Contact Information:
Full program guidelines and loan applications are available by contacting the district at 806-935-6401 and asking for Kirk Welch, or by e-mailing kwelch@northplainsgcd.org.