Demonstration of Innovative Water Conservation Technologies to Enhance Resilience to Drought While Optimizing Farm Profits

Growers in the Southeastern United States are particularly vulnerable to drought due to a variety of factors. First, although annual rainfall in the Southeastern United States normally exceeds evaporation, it is often poorly distributed. Second, southeastern Coastal Plain soils have extremely low water holding capacity due to predominantly sandy texture with very low organic matter contents. Third, most sandy soils of the southeastern Coastal Plains have a compacted zone or hardpan, which limits root penetration below the plowing depth, reducing yields, and making plants more susceptible to drought stress. Therefore, even relatively short drought periods will have devastating effects on crop yields and farm profits. The overarching goal of this demonstration project is to assist row crop, fruit, and vegetable farmers to adopt innovative and proven water conservation technologies to enhance resilience to drought and increase farm profits. Several water conservation techniques that were either developed or tested at Clemson University over the last decade and that have shown significant increase in water use efficiency while enhancing resilience to drought and farm profits will be demonstrated. Specific project objectives and anticipated outcomes include: (1) establish six “Prototype Fields” per year to directly train growers to adopt innovative and proven water conservation technologies; (2) demonstrate and evaluate the effects of water conservation technologies on enhancing drought resilience and farm profits; and (3) implement an aggressive training program for crop consultants, technology providers, and county extension agents to become the primary providers of water conservation technologies for growers beyond the geographic and time limitations of this project.