Summary:

For the assessment of the economic efficiency of irrigation in selected crops presented in this paper, we used results obtained from field experiments conducted in 2006-2012 at the Research Station of the University of Science and Technology in Bydgoszcz by employees of the Department of Land Reclamation and Agrometeorology. These studies were focused on the effects of irrigation on the yield of potatoes, malting barley and corn grown for grain. To calculate the economic efficiency we used the method of calculation the increase in direct surplus. The results indicate that irrigation was economically justified not in the all cases. For potatoes the direct surplus was increasing along with the increasing of the irrigated area, the losses were noticed only in the case of 1-hectare variant. In contrast, there was no economic justification for the use of irrigation in the production of malting barley, regardless of the irrigated area. Same results of economic effects, as in the case of barley, were obtained using drip irrigation in corn grown for grain. The presented calculation shows that the cost irrigation per 1 ha decreases as the irrigated area increases.