AUTHOR=Mitchell-McCallister Donna , McCullough Rebecca , Johnson Phillip , Williams Ryan Blake TITLE=An Economic Analysis on the Transition to Dryland Production in Deficit-Irrigated Cropping Systems of the Texas High Plains JOURNAL=Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems VOLUME=5 YEAR=2021 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/sustainable-food-systems/articles/10.3389/fsufs.2021.531601 DOI=10.3389/fsufs.2021.531601 ISSN=2571-581X ABSTRACT=

The objective of this analysis was to integrate hydrologic, agronomic, and economic methods to evaluate various management strategies by changing crop acreage to better manage the declining resources of the Ogallala aquifer. A non-linear optimization model was used to estimate the optimal water use, crop mix, crop yield, and net returns over a 50 year period under dryland and deficit irrigation scenarios in the Texas High Plains. Results indicated that growers could maintain profitability by switching from fully irrigated center pivots to irrigating ½ and ¼ pivots.