Question

8. You own a 300 hectare farm in southwestern Ontario and want to take advantage of the new high prices for corn caused by the opening of a new ethanol refinery. You calculate that you need to provide 150 mm of water per hectare each year to get optimal yields but your well only produces 3000 liters per minute. How much land can you plant in corn with your water, assuming you need to irrigate only during July and August? (5 marks)

Answer 1

Answer:

178.67hectare[/tex] of land

Explanation:

Total number of days in July and august = 31+31 = 62 days

We have given that 3000 liters of water available for every min, so total water availability for specific 62 will be

= 3000×60×24×62

= 267840000 liters

We know  that 1 liters = $10^6mm^3$

So 267840000 liters = $2.68\times 10^{14}mm^3$ of water

But per hectare of land requires 150 mm of water to get optimal yields, since 1 Hectare =1×$10^{10}$ $mm^2$

so, each Hectare of land filled with 150 mm of water would have a volume of =$150\times 10^{10}=1.5\times 10^{12}mm^3$

finally, as 1 Hectare of land needs $1.5\times 10^{12}mm^3$ of water to get desired yields. therefore with $2.68\times 10^{14}mm^3$ volume of water available , total hectares of land which can be planted in corn will be = $\frac{2.68\times 10^{14}mm^3}{1.5\times 10^{12}mm^3}=178.67hectare$