University of Arizona tests special liquid clay soil, paving way for saving water

YUMA, AZ (3TV/CBS 5)—According to estimates from the state water department, agriculture uses about 74% of Arizona’s water supply.

Now, the University of Arizona is paving the way to help save water in the industry by testing a special type of soil.

A Norwegian company called “Desert Control” developed this liquid natural clay. It’s designed to make dry soil more productive by holding in moisture without hardening it.

Robert Masson, Yuma County Assistant Agent of Agriculture, said they decided to run the trial on some of the driest and coarsest soil they have at the university’s Mesa Farm in the area of Somerton.

So far, they’ve grown romaine lettuce, celery, watermelons, and bell peppers. Masson said they are testing three formulations of clay slurry. He said they saw a yield increase in lettuce of about 20-50%.

“So far we’ve seen some positive responses with growing lettuce, we’ve seen some yield increases from growing lettuce but we’re still far off from drawing conclusions. Yuma is nice for testing technology like this , especially drought technology because we only get three inches of rain a year,” said Masson.

Masson said there are still three years left of the trial, but local farmers are already experimenting with the liquid natural clay.

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