Burdette Barker
Irrigation
Assistant Professor

Contact Information
Office Location: ENGR 227, UWRL 240Phone: 435-797-3926
Email: burdette.barker@usu.edu
Additional Information:
Educational Background
Expertise
Irrigation, Water Resources Engineering
Biography
Burdette is the Extension Irrigation Specialist for Utah. He has worked throughout the Western U.S. in irrigation engineering consulting and research. He focuses on providing information and tools to help Utah's agricultural producers. His areas of expertise include irrigation system design and performance, flow measurement, crop water use measurement and modeling, and irrigation management.
Teaching Interests
Burdette teaches courses in irrigation systems design and evaluation covering irrigation water supply, farm irrigation systems, and land drainage.
Research Interests
Crop water use, irrigation losses, irrigation systems, flow measurement, and irrigation management.
Awards
Outstanding Graduate Mentor, 2025
Utah State University Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Elenore Gakeneier Swarts Outstanding Doctoral Student, 2016
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Presidential Fellowship, 2016
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Second Place Entry, Graduate Student Poster Contest, 2015
Nebraska Water Center, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Publications | Abstracts
An asterisk (*) at the end of a publication indicates that it has not been peer-reviewed.
Publications | Fact Sheets
- Yost, M., Anderson, C., Allen, N., Barker, B., Heaton, M., Clawson, J., Creech, J.E, (2024). Deficit irrigation of pastures. Utah State University Extension
- Barker, B., Cardon, G., Yost, M., Creech, J.E, Gale, J.A, Stock, M., (2024). Managing saline and sodic soils and irrigation water. Utah State University Extension
- Barker, B., Stewart, S., Nelson, M., (2024). Maintaining and Improving Irrigation Application Uniformity in Sprinkler and Drip Systems. USU Extension
- Yost, M., Holt, J., Anderson, C., Molaei, B., Peters, T., Barker, B., Larsen, D., (2023). Guide to pivot wheel track management.
- Barker, B., Cardon, G., Yost, M., Stock, M., Creech, E., Gale, J.A, (2023). Management of saline and sodic soils and irrigation water. USU Extension
- Flint, E., Yost, M., Peters, T., Anderson, C., Barker, B., Hansen, N., (2023). Precision irrigation guide for center pivots. Utah State University Extension
- Barker, B., Yost, M., Rivers, E., Miller, R.L, Taylor, K., Evans, T., (2023). Irrigation water quality sampling guide. Utah State University
- Yost, M., Barker, B., Zesiger, C., Gale, J.A, Clawson, J., Nelson, R., Palmer, M.D, Pace, M., Reid, C., Price, S., Creech, J.E, Ransom, C., Cardon, G., (2023). 50 Common Questions About Field Crops. USU Extension
- Barker, B., Yost, M., Zesiger, C., (2023). Agricultural Irrigated Land and Irrigation Water Use in Utah. USU Extension
- Barker, B., Yost, M., Gale, J.A, Nelson, R., (2023). Understanding irrigation water optimization. Utah State University Extension
- Barker, B., Zesiger, C., Yost, M., (2023). Accurate Irrigation Water Flow Measurement in Pipes.
- Zesiger, C., Barker, B., Null, S., Creech, J.E, Yost, M., Larsen, R., Dallin, J., (2023). Agriculture water use and economic value in the Great Salt Lake Basin.
- Mufute, N., Yost, M., Barker, B., Taylor, K., Nelson, R., Violett, R., Gale, J.A, (2022). Ten Considerations for Solar-Powered Irrigation in Utah. USU Extension
- Yost, M., Allen, L., Burchfield, E., Barker, B., (2022). First county-level view of irrigation trends in Utah and the West. USU Extension
- Crookston, B., Yost, M., Barker, B., (2022). Water loss and recovery of irrigation systems. USU Extension
- Lo, T., Rudnick, D.R, Ge, Y., Heeren, D.M, Irmak, S., Barker, B., Qiao, X., Shaver, T.M, (2018). Ground-based thermal sensing of field crops and its relevance to irrigation management.
An asterisk (*) at the end of a publication indicates that it has not been peer-reviewed.
Publications | Journal Articles
Academic Journal
- Bai, G., Barker, B., Scoby, D., Irmak, S., Luck, J.D, Neale, C.M, Schnable, J.C, Awada, T., Kustas, W.P, Ge, Y., (2024). High-throughput physiological phenotyping of crop evapotranspiration at the plot scale. Field Crops Research, 316, 109507. doi: 10.1016/j.fcr.2024.109507
- Mufute, N.L, Yost, M., Larsen, D., Barker, B., Peters, T., Zamora-Re, M., (2024). Center-pivot maintenance trends in the western united states. Journal of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering, 150:3, doi: 10.1061/JIDEDH.IRENG-10209
- Holt, J., Yost, M., Creech, J.E, Barker, B., (2023). Improving pivot ruts with simple sprinkler modifications. Journal of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering, 149:12, doi: https://doi.org/10.1061/JIDEDH.IRENG-10188
- Holt, J., Yost, M., Creech, J.E, Winward, D., Barker, B., (2023). On-farm assessments of overhead irrigation sprinkler packages at full and reduced rates. Soil Science Society of America Journal, doi: https://doi.org/10.1002/saj2.20611
- Sullivan, T., Yost, M., Boren, D., Creech, J.E, Kitchen, B.M, Violett, R., Barker, B., (2023). Impacts of Irrigation Technology, Irrigation Rate, and Drought-Tolerant Genetics on Silage Corn Production . Agronomy, 13:5, 1194. doi: 10.3390/agronomy13051194
- Bhatti, S., Heeren, D.M, Barker, B., Neale, C.M, Woldt, W.E, Maguire, M.S, Rudnick, D.R, (2020). Site-specific irrigation management in a sub-humid climate using a spatial evapotranspiration model with satellite and airborne imagery. Agricultural Water Management, 230, 105950. doi: 10.1016/j.agwat.2019.105950
- Barker, B., Woldt, W.E, Wardlow, B.D, Neale, C.M, Maguire, M.S, Leavitt, B.C, Heeren, D.M, (2019). Calibration of a common shortwave multispectral camera system for quantitative applications. Precision Agriculture, 21, 922-935. doi: 10.1007/s11119-019-09701-6
- Barker, B., Bhatti, S., Heeren, D.M, Neale, C.M, Rudnick, D.R, (2019). Variable rate irrigation of maize and soybean in west-central Nebraska under full and deficit irrigation. Frontiers in Big Data, 2, 34. doi: 10.3389/fdata.2019.00034
- Miller, K.A, Luck, J.D, Heeren, D.M, Lo, T., Martin, D.L, Barker, B., (2018). A geospatial variable rate irrigation control scenario evaluation methodology based on mining root zone available water capacity. Precision Agriculture, 19, 666-683. doi: 10.1007/s11119-017-9548-z
- Barker, B., D.M, Koehler-Cole, K., Shapiro, C.S, Blanco-Canqui, H., Elmore, R.W, Proctor, C.A, Irmak, S., Francis, C.A, Shaver, T.M, Mohmmed, A.T, (2018). Cover crops have negligible impact on soil water in Nebraska maize-soybean rotation. Agronomy Journal, 110:5, 1718-1730. doi: 10.2134/agronj2017.12.0739
- Barker, B., Neale, C.M, Heeren, D.M, Suyker, A.E, (2018). Evaluation of a hybrid reflectance-based crop coefficient and energy balance evapotranspiration model for irrigation management. Agricultural Water Management, 203, 63-74. doi: 10.1016/j.agwat.2018.02.022
- Barker, B., Heeren, D.M, Neale, C.M, Rudnick, D.R, (2018). Evaluation of variable rate irrigation using a remote-sensing-based model. Transactions of the ASABE, 61:2, 533-548. doi: 10.13031/trans.12311
- Lo, T., Heeren, D.M, Mateos, L., Luck, J.D, Martin, D.L, Miller, K.A, Barker, B., Shaver, T.M, (2017). Field characterization of field capacity and root zone available water capacity for variable rate Irrigation. Applied Engineering in Agriculture, 33:4, 559-572. doi: 10.13031/aea.11963
- Barker, B., Franz, T.E, Heeren, D.M, Neale, C.M, Luck, J.D, (2017). Soil Water Content Monitoring for Irrigation Management: A Geostatistical Analysis. Agricultural Water Management, 188, 36-49. doi: 10.1016/j.agwat.2017.03.024
- Lecina, S., Hill, R.W, Barker, B., (2016). Irrigation uniformity under different socio-economic conditions: evaluation of center pivots in Aragon (Spain) and Utah (USA). Irrigation and Drainage, 65:4, 549-559. doi: 10.1002/ird.2031
An asterisk (*) at the end of a publication indicates that it has not been peer-reviewed.
Publications | Technical Reports
Research Reports
- Hill, R.W, Barker, B., Lewis, C.S, (2011). Crop and Wetland Consumptive Use and Open Water Surface Evaporation for Utah. Utah Agricultural Experiment Station *
- Hill, R.W, Barker, B., (2010). Verification of Turfgrass Evapotranspiration in Utah. Utah Agricultural Experiment Station *
An asterisk (*) at the end of a publication indicates that it has not been peer-reviewed.
Publications | Other
Bulletins
- Hansen, S., Beddes, T., Barker, B., Butler, A., (2023). Water Recommendations for Vegetables.
Other
- Yost, M., Barker, B., Peters, T., (2024). Depletion Differences for Irrigation System Changes (DISC). USU Extension *
- Peters, T., Yost, M., Barker, B., (2023). Irrigation Technology Cost/Benefit Analysis Calculator. *
An asterisk (*) at the end of a publication indicates that it has not been peer-reviewed.