About

Dr. Guy Fipps, Ph.D., P.E., is a Professor and Extension Agricultural Engineer specializing in irrigation technology, water quality, and water management at Texas A&M University. With a career spanning over 30 years, he has dedicated his efforts to improving irrigation efficiency, developing new technologies, and promoting efficient water management practices. His expertise has been recognized globally, and he has significantly influenced farm profitability and water conservation across north, central, and south Texas. Dr. Fipps has held several professional appointments, including serving as Senior Advisor for Water at the US Department of State in Kabul, Afghanistan, and as the Founding Director of the Irrigation Technology Center. Throughout his career, he has received numerous awards acknowledging his contributions to irrigation and agricultural engineering, such as the Person of the Year by the Irrigation Association and the Professional Engineer of the Year by the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers. His work continues to impact agricultural water management and irrigation practices through education, research, and extension programs at Texas A&M University.

Research topics

• Computer Science
• Environmental science
• Mathematics
• Climatology
• Biology
• Geography
• Engineering
• Statistics
• Ecology
• Geology
• Remote sensing
• Agricultural engineering
• Computer vision
• Meteorology

Selected publications

• THE ROLE OF MULCH COLOR AND IRRIGATION LEVEL IN REDUCING WATER STRESS IN STRAWBERRY

  Applied Ecology and Environmental Research · 2023-01-01 · 1 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Photosynthesis decline, resulting from changing evapotranspiration levels and varying growing conditions, can lead to crop failure.To prevent damage, it is essential to assess carotenoid and chlorophyll content, and crop responses to limited irrigation.In this experiment, we studied strawberry responses to photosynthetic pigments, physiological parameters, and macronutrient concentrations under different irrigation levels (IR100 and IR50), mulch colors (black, silver, transparent), and harvest dates in Turkey.The results showed significant effects on total chlorophyll, chlorophyll a, chlorophyll a/b, and carotenoid levels due to irrigation and dap applications.Fruit N, P, and K concentrations were significantly influenced by irrigation and mulch colors but unaffected by different periods.Leaf water potential (L) and stomatal conductance (gs) were significantly impacted by all treatments.Silver mulch retained more water (31%) and had higher gs (28%) than other treatments.Silver and black mulch resulted in the highest macro nutrient concentrations in the fruit.IR50 reduced chlorophyll and carotenoid levels, L, gs, and N, P, and K concentrations.Our findings highlight the benefits of using appropriate mulch colors and irrigation amounts, with silver mulch IR100 combination mitigating the impact of limited irrigation under Mediterranean climate conditions.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Evaluation of Five Equations for Short-Term Reference Evapotranspiration Forecasting Using Public Temperature Forecasts for North China Plain

  Water · 2022 · 11 citations

  • Environmental science
  • Meteorology
  • Climatology

  Accurate short-term forecasts of daily reference evapotranspiration (ET0) are essential for real-time irrigation scheduling. Many models rely on current and historical temperature data to estimate daily ET0. However, easily accessible temperature forecasts are relatively less reported in short-term ET0 forecasting. Furthermore, the accuracy of ET0 forecasting from different models varies locally and also across regions. We used five temperature-dependent models to forecast daily ET0 for a 7-day horizon in the North China Plain (NCP): the McCloud (MC), Hargreaves-Samani (HS), Blaney-Criddle (BC), Thornthwaite (TH), and reduced-set Penman–Monteith (RPM) models. Daily meteorological data collected between 1 January 2000 and 31 December 2014 at 17 weather stations in NCP to calibrate and validate the five ET0 models against the ASCE Penman–Monteith (ASCE-PM). Forecast temperatures for up to 7 d ahead for 1 January 2015–19 June 2021 were input to the five calibrated models to forecast ET0. The performance of the five models improved for forecasts at all stations after calibration. The calibrated RPM is the preferred choice for forecasting ET0 in NCP. In descending order of preference, the remaining models were ranked as HS, TH, BC, and MC. Sensitivity analysis showed that a change in maximum temperature influenced the accuracy of ET0 forecasting by the five models, especially RPM, HS, and TH, more than other variables. Meanwhile, the calibrated RPM and HS equations were better than the other models, and thus, these two equations were recommended for short-term ET0 forecasting in NCP.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Evaluation of Canal Liners in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas over 18 Years - Final Results and Conclusions

  2021-01-01

  articleSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• Improvement Design and Experiment of a Small Deep-placement Fertilizer Applicator

  Engineering in Agriculture Environment and Food · 2021-01-01 · 2 citations

  articleOpen access

  An small deep-placement fertilizer applicator (SDFA), to realize hill fertilization application and mark fertilizer location with lime, was developed. It’s unique structure and working principle were detailed. Orthogonal tests was conducted by the software EDEM virtual simulation in order get the working parameters and structure of the applicator. The rotational torque was much higher than resistant torque after optimization design. Field testing across different sites and seasons showed that the improved applicator consistently placed synthetic fertilizer at the depth of 18–21 cm and plant spacing of 49–52 cm. The average amount of fertilizer released into each hill was 54.5 g when the set amount was 55.0 g, which indicate the design are effective.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Evaluation of synthetic canal lining materials in South Texas over 18 years—Final results and conclusions*

  Irrigation and Drainage · 2021-08-10 · 3 citations

  articleSenior author

  Abstract Since 1999, irrigation districts in Hidalgo, Cameron, Willacy, and Maverick Counties in South Texas have been experimenting with an assortment of canal lining materials installed in about 40 km of earthen and concrete canals. In 2005, the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service initiated a programme to track the long‐term effectiveness and durability of these materials and to document installation and maintenance procedures which will help ensure good performance. Each lining project was periodically inspected to document the effects of such factors as weather, animals, intentional and unintentional vandalism, farm machinery traffic, and normal irrigation district operational and maintenance activities. Evaluation forms were developed to document observations during inspections. The forms consisted of three elements: a general project description, a district operations questionnaire, and a field observation and rating survey. During inspection, the size and locations of holes and tares in the lining materials were identified, along with the most probable causes of the problems found. In this paper, we summarize results and provide recommendations on liner installation and maintenance obtained from evaluations which span about 18 years of material age. The lining systems which performed the best were synthetic liners overlaid with concrete.

  PublisherDOI

• <i>Evolution of Smart Irrigation Controllers: A 15 Year Texas Perspective</i>

  2021-01-01 · 1 citations

  articleSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• Unmanned aerial vehicle system integrating high‐resolution sensors for detecting leaks in irrigation canals—Proof of concept*

  Irrigation and Drainage · 2021 · 9 citations

  • Computer Science
  • Remote sensing
  • Environmental science

  Abstract A system for the remote detection of water leaks in irrigation canals is presented which integrates visual, thermal, and multispectral imagers into a specially designed platform mounted on small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), along with an image processing and analysis procedure employing three different software packages and customized scripts. The end results are processed images of different colour bands and indexes which are shown to be effective at highlighting the leaks’ signatures. A custom payload platform weighing 1 kg was designed and built, consisting of high‐resolution thermal, multispectral, and visual cameras, GPS units, a flight control camera, and a data acquisition system. A total of 27 flights in 4 irrigation districts were conducted to test and evaluate the payload platform and image processing system. The portable platform was successfully flown on three different UAV. A total of 46,387 images were captured and processed. The image processing and analysis system worked well and identified all known leaks, as well as leaks that the district's staff were unaware of. Thermal image indexes were effective at showing cold spots which were caused by canal leaks. The visual and the blue and green near‐infrared indexes were also found to be effective at identifying leaks. The Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) did help differentiate between vegetation and wet soils, but we did not obtain consistent results with the NDVI.

  PublisherDOI

• <i>The Status of ET (Evapotranspiration) Networks in the United States</i>

  2021-01-01

  article1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Aral Sea Disaster

  2020-07-21

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding

  The Aral Sea is one of the worst ecological disasters on our planet. What was once the world’s fourth largest inlet sea, the Aral Sea has lost over 60% of its surface area, two-third of its volume, declined 40 m in depth, and has fallen to the eighth largest inland body of water in the world.

  PublisherDOI

• Rice yield response forecasting tool (YIELDCAST) for supporting climate change adaptation decision in Sahel

  Agricultural Water Management · 2020 · 18 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding
  • Computer Science
  • Environmental science
  • Climatology
  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Seydou Traoré

  19 shared

• E. Leigh

  19 shared

• Charles Swanson

  17 shared

• Gabriele Bonaiti

  14 shared

• Yufeng Luo

  Wuhan University

  14 shared

• Lei Zhang

  Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology

  10 shared

• Yufeng Luo

  Wuhan University

  6 shared

• Yanbo Huang

  6 shared

Education

• B.S., Agricultural Engineering

  Texas A&M University

  1979

• M.S., Biological and Agricultural Engineering

  North Carolina State University

  1984

• Ph.D., Biological and Agricultural Engineering

  North Carolina State University

  1988

Awards & honors

• Lalit and Aruna Verma Award for Excellence in Global Engagem…
• Team Award for Superior Service, Texas A&M AgriLife Extensio…
• Person of the Year, The Irrigation Association November 2015
• Engineer of the Year, American Society of Agricultural and B…
• The 13th Merriam Improved Irrigation Award, United States Co…