Summary:

To evaluate the economic efficiency of irrigation in corn cultivated for grain, production effects were used, which were obtained from studies conducted by researcher team from the Department of Land Reclamation and Agrometeorology at the Experiment Station of the UTP University of Science and Technology in Bydgoszcz in 2005-2016. The research covered the effect of irrigation on yielding of the crop. Economic efficiency calculations were made using the direct surplus increase calculation method. In each variant irrigation enhanced production effects. It was not always economically justified, however. The irrigation costs (for drip and sprinkler irrigation systems) per hectare were decreasing with an increase in acreage. Applying drip irrigation was economically unjustified in moist years and on average in the multi-year period. In the years with dry and average precipitation conditions the direct surplus was positive, except for irrigation of 1 ha. As for the sprinkler-irrigation system, a lack of economic efficiency was reported in moist years, whereas in dry and average years as well as on average in the multi-year period, except for 1 hectare acreage, corn sprinkler-irrigation was economically justified.