Irrigation Efficiency
Develop and evaluate water management strategies and technologies, including dryland cropping systems, that could reduce water withdrawals for irrigation while maintaining and/or enhancing the economic viability of the agriculture industry and the vitality of the Southern Ogallala Aquifer Region.
Dryland cropping systems
Develop and evaluate management strategies and technologies that would increase the productivity and profitability of forage or other short-season cropping systems that reduce or eliminate water withdrawals.
Hydrological / climatic conditions
Improve the understanding of hydrological and climatic factors that affect water use and economic profitability, and provide estimates of the climatic, hydrologic, cropping, and profitability conditions that are likely to occur on the southern High Plains over the next 50 years.
Policy/Economic Viability
Determine the impacts of alternative water withdrawal/use policies on the economic viability of the agriculture industry and the vitality of the southern Ogallala Aquifer region.
Alternative Crops BMPs
Develop best management practices for alternative crops that increase the sustainability of dryland farming or high-value crops that maintain farm income with decreasing pumping from the Ogallala Aquifer.
