With their orchards, vineyards and high-value crops, California farmers have embraced drip and other forms of microirrigation, making such systems the leading method used to water their crops. Despite increased adoption of drip, the traditional and more low-tech method of flooding the ground and using gravity to deliver water to crops remains popular in the Golden State—and not just for field crops. Less popular in California are sprinkler systems, even though they remain the most widely used irrigation method in the nation. There’s a reason microirrigation has taken off. Drip systems, in general, improve irrigation efficiency, said Khaled Bali, an irrigation water management specialist at the University of California Kearney Agricultural Research and Extension Center in Parlier. With improved irrigation efficiency, farmers can produce higher yields per unit of applied water, he added.