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Anthropological fieldwork conducted in two North Indian villages focused on cultural differences attributable to recent irrigation development. The study of introduced irrigation systems is distinguished from studies of traditional irrigation systems. The varieties of impacts due to irrigation development are reviewed from the literature and hypotheses formulated relating to economic change (cropping patterns, labor demand, profitability), socio-economic behavior (occupations, patron-client relations, household composition), and cultural values (modernization and traditionalization). The methodology of controlled comparison was adopted as a means of isolating the effects of canal irrigation (Bhakra canal) in the Bagar region of Northwest India. A mostly unirrigated village served as a control to measure the effects of irrigation in a "wet" village. Data on agricultural practices, labor use, occupations, household composition, and material culture were collected from a systematic sample of 40 households in each village. The primary irrigation effects have been economic: higher yields, new crops (wheat and cotton), and much higher profits. Labor demand is much higher in the irrigated village, though cropping intensity is actually lower. Residents of the drier village have diversified into non-farm work both within and outside the village. A few families have migrated out, in contrast to the wet village which has experienced a dramatic rise in population, largely from immigrants. Sociocultural measures, including jajmani relations, household composition, and religious shrines show relatively few contrasts between the villages. Both villages have undergone significant changes in the past generation, in one case due primarily to agricultural intensification, and in the other case due to economic diversification. The villages are more remarkable for their present similarities than their differences.

Increasing irrigation water cost due to higher pump energy price and falling groundwater tables is a critical problem of the agricultural sector in Sulphur Springs Valley of Southeastern Arizona which is characterized as an arid region with low annual precipitation and high temperatures. Water saving irrigation techniques, side roll and center pivot sprinkler systems, are analyzed as alternatives of gravity irrigation. Natural gas, electricity, and diesel fuel are commonly available energy sources for pumping groundwater in the area. Four representative farm size groups, five crops, and five irrigation techniques are adopted for representative farm mixed integer programming models. The problem is treated as a complete switch from one energy source to another and twelve separate sets of computer data are developed for four farm sizes and three energy sources. Sensitivity analyses based on cotton lint price and natural gas cost variations are analyzed. The results are aggregated to determine the regional level impacts of energy source changes, cotton lint price declines, and natural gas price increases. The major conclusion of these analyses is that upland cotton is a dominant crop with wheat using residual land and water. July water and available land restrict the crop production. Increasing energy costs reduce the total annual water consumption through adopting the water saving sprinkler systems and/or crops. Under the initial conditions (cotton lint price is at $58.11/cwt and natural gas price is at $.1167 per therm) the farmers generate gross returns that cover their annual total cost. Decreasing price of cotton decreases the return above total cost and annual water consumption. Wheat production changes as a complement of upland cotton, but corn production varies as substitute because of irrigation water and land constraints and relative crop profitability.

In order to understand the ecological characteristics of three dry farming systems in the semiarid San Luis Potosi Plateau, Mexico, a one year study was conducted. The systems studied were a purely rainfed field, a field on an alluvial fan irrigated with runoff water, and a field in a bottomland irrigated with water diverted from an ephemeral stream. Three treatments, farmed, edge and unfarmed, were established in a Randomized Block design, with three replications, for each system. The major conclusions of this research were the following. During the summer, climate is resposible for a concentration of the communities's production and reproduction. Climate is also of paramount importance to agriculture. Rainy periods, on the other hand, decreased the activity of animals. None of the farming systems had detrimental effect on soil fertility. Only slight modifications of soil temperature and air temperature and humidity resulted from farming. A general overview of all the results did not provide evidence that all farming systems decrease biotic richness and diversity. The effects depended on the type of system, its isolation, and the natural vegetation adjacent to it. Herbs were enhanced by farming only when the natural system was relatively free of them. Farming did not have important effects on invertebrates. Birds were negativelly affected by farming, whenever the unfarmed areas included an arboreal stratum. Also, insectivorous birds responded differently than non-insectivores. Rodents were affected negatively by farming in two of the systems, and this could be linked to habitat simplicity. In one case, dense herb cover was associated with very high rodent populations. In general the data adjusted to the hypothesis that structurally more heterogeneous agroecosystems hold more diverse biotas. The concepts of "farmland biota" and "edge effect" were not supported by this study. Edges were ocasionally superior, and only when they included more complex plant communities than either side. A mosaic of heterogeneous farmlands and natural vegetation attracts certain rodents and birds, increasing environmental diversity.

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