Developing Irrigation Management Strategies under Drought Conditions in Texas

Periods of drought such as the historic drought of 2012 are common in Texas, where irrigated agriculture consumes more than 90% of the total water used. It is imperative to embrace technologies that optimize irrigation and conserve agricultural water such as irrigation guidelines based on historical weather station data that incorporate crop evapotranspiration for planning irrigation. The main purpose of this project is to develop agronomic and irrigation strategies to manage drought conditions in irrigated agriculture and grazed land. The specific objectives are (1) to develop irrigation guidelines for sugarcane, citrus, corn, cotton and corn, onions and watermelons, and pastures in the Lower Rio Grande Valley for full irrigation and limited water supplies and determine irrigation priorities for these crops according to profitability and water use efficiency; (2) develop an internet based computer program to adapt irrigation management according to drought conditions using the weather station network; (3) establish five field demonstrations on EQIP eligible producer farms to demonstrate water scheduling strategies using remote soil water sensors and internet based data and quantify water use, irrigation with poly-pipe, water application efficiency and net return per unit of water applied; and (4) organize field days, workshops and extension factsheets (English and Spanish) to divulge these technologies.