Rice farming systems in the North Region of Uruguay are mainly irrigated from water stored in dams. Increases in Water productivity would contribute to augment annually rice planted area, allows the allocation of water to irrigate other crops in a rotation and could contribute to reduce pumping irrigation costs. Implementing crop irrigation systems involving savings in water input means a greater risk and could only be implemented on a larger scale if they determine More or Equal Rice yield per Hectare with less Water.

A high proportion of water inputs for rice crop irrigation in the Central Region of Uruguay comes from rainfall water stored in dams. Maximizing water productivity is important as savings in water inputs would reduce the costs of pumping irrigation, increase annually sown rice area, allows to allocate water to irrigate other crops in a rotation and contribute to reduce the impact of farming systems on Water Footprint (Chapagain & Hoekstra, 2011) and to reduce environmental impact based upon Life Cycle Assessment, energy and water analyses (Thanawong et al. , 2014).

The aim of the experiment is to determine irrigation management practices and systematization field layout techniques that increase Water Productivity, contemplating the economic and environmental sustainability of rice farming systems in Uruguay.

The aim of the experiment is to determine irrigation management practices and systematization field layout techniques that increase Water Productivity, contemplating the economic and environmental sustainability of rice farming systems in Uruguay.