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Ogallala Water Coordinated Agriculture Project Digital Newsletter #1
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The Ogallala Water Coordinated Agriculture Project (OWCAP) celebrates its first anniversary
Funded by USDA-NIFA, OWCAP involves the collaboration of more than forty researchers and extension specialists based at nine institutions in six Ogallala Aquifer Region states (see map). The OWCAP project is focused on addressing water-related challenges faced by Ogallala region producers.
Decades of extensive irrigation from the Ogallala aquifer has transformed the region from a Dust Bowl to an agricultural powerhouse. Significant declines in water quantity and quality require farmers to adapt. Working across state lines, the Ogallala Water CAP team has formed to effectively integrate research and extension efforts to:
- increase the visibility of successful, profitable approaches to farming with less water
- support producer decision making and regional groundwater management efforts
- boost the adoption of water conserving management strategies in the Ogallala region.
The project’s first was busy and productive. Some highlights:
- Several new peer-reviewed articles, fact sheets and other reports were published on a diversity of topics including emerging irrigation technologies, regional economic impacts of groundwater, and development of irrigation management tools (find them here)
- Initial project results were shared with ~5000 people (producers, crop advisors, extension agents, researchers) at field days, winter irrigation meetings and other regional and international events
- The project’s modeling team is working on coupling local agricultural decision models with hydrologic models of Ogallala aquifer study areas to improve assessment of the impact of policies and management strategies on regional aquifer levels
- A wide range of field research on optimizing water use for many crops, crop rotations and irrigation-related strategies and technologies is underway
- More! Check the Ogallalawater.org website (currently under development) for content updates as the year progresses.
Now entering its second project year, OWCAP collaborators continue to engage in activities focused on:
- improving irrigation water use efficiency
- agricultural adaptation to extreme weather, drought and climate variability
- mitigating the impact of declining aquifer levels on the economies of rural communities.
We are excited about extensive networking taking place with project team members and producers, industry representatives and public sector partners. We are supporting or developing many activities taking place across the Ogallala aquifer region that will involve and/or reach a wide range of stakeholders. Many of our team members are also expanding the project’s impacts through collaborations with other USDA and University-funded research projects across the Ogallala region.
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OWCAP at Central Plains Irrigation Conference
Several OWCAP collaborators presented talks at February's Central Plains Irrigation Association Conference in Burlington, CO. OWCAP Project co-director Meagan Schipanski was invited to provide a keynote about the project. The conference proceedings are available online at k-state.edu.
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OWCAP poster on display at DC Congressional Exhibition on Agricultural Research
In early April, OWCAP collaborator Chuck Rice (K-State) presented an overview poster about the OWCAP project. "The event was well-attended and people seemed to be interested in our project," he noted. View the poster Chuck presented at ogallalawater.org and read a K-State press release about the event here.
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A Booming interest in groundwater conservation in KS - Why now?
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OWCAP collaborator Bill Golden, an economist with Kansas State University, provided a webinar in late April that covered some history and current activity related to KS water rights, IGUCAs and LEMA districts. Click here to listen to the webinar.
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Field-based competition as a driver of technology innovation and adoption
An exciting, new field-based competition involving the collaboration of researchers, producers, industry and extension is underway this growing season. Called “Testing Ag Performance Solutions (TAPS)”, the program is led by OWCAP collaborator and UNL irrigation management specialist Daran Rudnick along with UNL colleagues Chuck Burr, Matt Stockton, and Rodrigo Werle, in collaboration with Aquamart/Nebraska Water Balance Alliance.
Participating competitors (teams or individuals) have each been designated a hypothetical farm of 3,000 harvested corn acres. Through an internal website (www.TAPS.unl.edu) operators submit their choices for insurance, nitrogen management, hybrid selection, planting population density, irrigation scheduling, and marketing grain.
Operators’ management decisions throughout the cropping season will be implemented on 3 randomized plots (~0.5 acres) at the West Central Research and Extension Center (WCREC) in North Platte, NE. The field site is equipped with a Zimmatic® by Lindsay variable rate irrigation system as well as an Agri-Inject reflex® variable rate fertigation system.
As a condition of participating in the competition, all operators have agreed to share information on their farm management strategies with the TAPS organizers; their data will be anonymized. This information will be integrated with data collected in-field during the growing season, including: weather conditions, soil physical and chemical properties, soil water content, canopy reflectance and temperature, crop growth and development, grain yield, and nitrogen uptake.
Data gathered through the competition will allow the project coordinators to evaluate and better understand “actual” farm management decisions ranging from “production” to “economics”. “UNL-TAPS provides a platform for peer-to-peer learning, exposing producers to technology, tools, and other resources available for improvement of farm management,” said Rudnick.
In coming up with the idea for this competition, Rudnick, along with his colleagues at UNL and at Aquamart/NEWBA, knew it would be a high interest concept. They did not anticipate, however, how quickly or broadly the idea would take off throughout the NE ag community, nor how much support it would garner.
A total of 15 “farms” with more than 20 competitors are participating in this year’s competition. Competitors include individuals and groups of producers located across west central Nebraska, student Ag Clubs from the Nebraska College of Technical Agriculture (in Curtis, NE) and UNL Agronomy. UNL Extension specialists who will also be competing, using management decisions that align with Extension recommendations.
More than 20 public and private sector sponsors have provided support through donation of and/or discounts on equipment, instrumentation, and services as well as monetary support for awards. A complete list of sponsors can be found at TAPS.unl.edu.
“This program was developed to enhance our ability to engage producers at a higher level on topics of farm efficiency and profitability,” Rudnick said. “Plots were planted May 9—I’m excited to evaluate the unique management strategies imposed by the contestants,” he said.
At the end of the season, winners will be determined for the “farm” that is a) most profitable, b) has the highest input use efficiency (irrigation and nitrogen), and c) achieved the highest yield. Cash prizes for the winners will be awarded in January 2018 at the UNL-TAPS award banquet in North Platte, NE.
Roric Paulman of Paulman Farms (Sutherland, NE) emailed his perspective on TAPS from his tractor while planting: “Broader adoption of basic technology has come a long way,” he said. “Now, with this opportunity, can we jumpstart the next segment of tech adoption?”
John Heaston of Aquamart thinks so. “This contest allows producers to learn new technology and practice in a low risk environment. Aquamart is proud to be a partner and developer of the project and looks forward to a long future of testing ag innovation with a premiere research university.”
Paulman said, “Rather than wondering why farmers don't embrace the research, and asking industry to continue putting technology in front of us, TAPS is truly setting the stage for a collaborative evaluation of why particular decisions are being made. This is a “big deal.” Rudnick agrees, adding that, “viewing the decisions made by competitors will be very informative for the development of appropriate future research and extension activities aimed at enhancing farm profitability and efficiency.”
“TAPS also provides a platform for non-agricultural stakeholders to learn hands-on about the challenges of farm-based decision making,” said Heaston. Paulman agrees, noting: “I'm excited to expand the conversations to all interested parties.”
The TAPS competition will be featured at UNL-WCREC’s August Field Day and Workshop “What’s on Tap? Conversations on the Cutting Edge” to be held on August 24 and 25, 2017. For more information, visit http://taps.unl.edu/.
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OWCAP contributing to special aquifer-focused track at UCOWR conference
Last year, at the 2016 UCOWR meeting in Florida, Dan Devlin (K-State) approached Kevin Wagner (TAMU) with an idea to organize an “Ogallala conference” in conjunction with the 2017 UCOWR meeting, scheduled for June 13-15, 2017 in Fort Collins.
Over time, that conference idea morphed to become a special track of 30 aquifer research-focused sessions to be held over two days of the meeting. This track will provide a solid opportunity for in-depth and broad exchange among conference participants and presenters, including many OWCAP team members—including Devlin and Wagner—as well as researchers whose work is supported by the USDA-ARS-led Ogallala Aquifer Program.
The track also includes scientists from other regions, including California’s Central Valley, Arizona, and the Mississippi Delta, which are also suffering aquifer decline, impacting agricultural irrigation. Producers and researchers from these areas are all focused on finding ways to address that decline.
The special aquifer track complements a very content-rich, interesting UCOWR program.
Wagner, who served as Technical Program Chair for the conference, said he’s pleased with the posters and great keynote speakers lined up. “This year, I’m excited that we have also added a authors’ plenary luncheon featuring Drs. William and Rosemary Alley and John Fleck talking about their new books, which should be really interesting,” he said.
The UCOWR meeting generally attracts a few hundred participants. It is “always a very enjoyable meeting and a great place for networking with researchers and educators from around the country,” Wagner said. “This year, I’m particularly looking forward to the potential for developing additional collaborations with people from other regions focused on improving irrigation efficiency for agriculture and food production systems,” he said.
Another addition to the conference program includes a free, interactive workshop sponsored by OWCAP on “Effective Science Communication” to take place Tuesday, June 13 from 12-1 p.m. Conceived for early career professionals, students and post-docs attending UCOWR, this session will be led by John Calderazzo, Emeritus Professor of English at CSU. Calderazzo specializes in using the language and storytelling skills he has developed in teaching and writing nonfiction to help scientists and other researchers communicate their work to mainstream audiences, the media, decision makers, and other scientists.
For more information, contact ucowr@siu.edu.
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Forum on farming with limited water engages producers and researchers
Sultan Begna (far right) provided an overview of his research with Dr. Sangu Angadi at NMSU’s Agricultural Research Center at Clovis, NM. They are investigating a wide range of alternative crops and cropping systems suited to limited water availability, including a forage mix of winter canola and Austrian pea and multiple benefits of planting circular perennial grass buffers in pivots.
On April 26, at the Curry County Fairgrounds in Clovis, NM, the Ogallala Water CAP co-sponsored a Forum titled “Managing risk and thinking ahead” with the National Drought Mitigation Center (NIDIS) and the USDA Southwest Climate Hub. More than 50 participants took part in the full-day event, including producers, researchers, extension specialists, and State and Federal agency representatives from Texas and New Mexico.
The 2011-2012 drought experienced in the Southern High Plains provided a key focal point and context for discussions throughout the day. Presenters provided a practical look at the region’s climate trends, drought monitoring, and water availability. Together, the assembled group discussed available on-line tools, production methods, and research results available to assist producers dealing with—or preparing for—drought. (View the Forum agenda.)
 Producer Jerry Don Glover (Lazbuddie, TX) kicked things off for the Forum. Glover, a past chairman of the State Committee of the Texas Farm Service Agency (2009-2017) farms approximately 2000 acres, running 1,100 head of stocker cattle on pasture.
Back in the 1950’s, wells on Glover’s farm delivered water at 900-1000 gallons per minute (gpm) to row-watered crops, mostly corn, wheat and milo. When the farm switched over to center pivot irrigation in the 70’s and 80’s, “we were throwing water in the air with sprinklers, wasting more water then than we have left now to pump,” Glover recalled.
Today, declining reserves of water in the aquifer beneath Glover’s farm translates into having pumps that deliver 150-300 gpm, depending on the well. “I’ve got 30-40 feet of water left in my sand,” Glover said. “My hope now is that my [grown] kids will still have drinking water on the farm when they get to be in their 70’s.” His concern is well-founded, with some of his neighbors currently pumping water a half-mile from their fields to their homes.
Glover’s goal for the next decade is to set up a production system adapted to limited water use that can be sustained over the long term. “I want something for my kids that will work on its own, like a cow-calf operation that will keep producing without my kids needing to keep pumping,” he said.
Key shifts that Glover has made in farm management include prioritizing winter crop production, primarily wheat and triticale, over summer crop production. When he does irrigate, Glover sends water to just one of his circles, or to a half-circle, to make sure that he maximizes production relative to the amount of water pumped.
“Some of my neighbors plant corn on a whole circle, but that’s just not feasible,” Glover noted, due to the extent of aquifer depletion in the region and related low pumping rates. “I’d rather be making 200 bushel/acre corn on a half circle than 120 bushels/acres on whole circle.”
 Glover has also installed good quality meters that he obtained through his association with the Texas Alliance for Water Conservation (TAWC) on all of his wells, so he can make sure he’s pumping the right amount for his crop.
Glover credits the TAWC for motivating his decision to plant improved grass on some of his pivot circles—360 acres so far—using some of the water he has left to get the grass established. “I raise a lot of stockers, and grass is a beef producer,” Glover said. His son and grandson have a 100-head cow/calf operation and they’re raising calves on grass, and it’s working. “Grass and cattle is our future,” Glover says.
Takeaway from the Forum and follow-up
The producers, researchers and extension specialists assembled in Clovis on April 26 agreed that the Southern High Plains has yet to fully recover from the 2011-2012 drought. Asked if they felt prepared for the next drought, many producers in the room, said “no,” pointing out practical and economic challenges related to having limited water, for example:
- “We are still building stock and grass. It takes a long time to recover [from drought] when you are dependent on rainfall.”
- “It’s very difficult to keep land in CRP; the payment has lowered per acre and by the time we pay taxes the money is gone.”
- “There is deep water in the aquifer, but where’s the price point that you’d put a 1000 foot well in? Only the elite can dig a 1000 foot well.”
- “Soil on my farm doesn’t seem to be as productive since the drought.”
Presentations and a meeting proceedings from the Forum will be made available via the OWCAP and National Drought Mitigation Center websites later this summer. Given the high value of information exchange possible for researchers and producers alike at this kind of Forum, the Ogallala Water CAP plans to help co-coordinate additional similar sessions with NDMC and the USDA Climate Hubs elsewhere in the Ogallala aquifer region, dates and locations TBA. Presentations will be tailored to local needs using data specific to water-related challenges faced by producers. Questions? Comments? Please contact Amy Kremen, Ogallala Water CAP project manager, at Amy.Kremen@colostate.edu.
[All photos by Amy Kremen]
[Photo of Rajan in a cover crop research field at ASC] Caption: OWCAP collaborator Rajan Ghimire presented at the Forum about his research focused on the potential impact of conservation tillage, cover cropping and crop diversification for improving soil health and agroecosystem resilience in dryland and limited irrigation production systems. This photo shows Rajan in one of his mixed cover crop research plots at NMSU’s Agricultural Research Center at Clovis, NM.
[Photo of Jerry Don Glover and Chuck West at the meeting] Caption: Jerry Don Glover, a producer from Lazbuddie, TX and Chuck West, OWCAP collaborator from Texas Tech University, discussed impacts and lessons learned with regard to water availability, climate and weather relevant for long-term sustainable production in the Southern High Plains.
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Recent OWCAP publications
- Almas, L., B. Guerrero, D. Lust, H. Fatima, R. Tewari, and R. Taylor. Extending the Economic Life of the Ogallala Aquifer with Water Conservation Policies in the Texas Panhandle. Journal of Water Resource and Protection (JWARP), 9.3(2017):255-270.
- Almas, L. K., Price, J. A., Workneh, F., & Rush, C. M. (2016). Quantifying economic losses associated with levels of wheat streak mosaic incidence and severity in the Texas High Plains. Crop Protection, 88, 155-160.
- Guerrero, B., S. Amosson, L. Almas, T. Marek, and D. Porter. Economic Feasibility of Converting Center Pivot Irrigation to Subsurface Drip Irrigation. Journal of the American Society of Farm Managers and Rural Appraisers, (2016)77-88.
- An Economic Analysis of Management Strategies to Conserve Groundwater in the Republican River Basin of Colorado', by Dale Manning, Aaron Hrozencik, Chris Goemans, and Jordan Suter. Sept. 2016.
- Rudnick, D., Irmak, S., Ferguson, R., Shaver, T., Djaman, K., Slater, G., Bereuter, A., Ward, N., Francis, D., Schmer, M., Wienhold, B., and Van Donk, S. (2016). Economic Return versus Crop Water Productivity of Maize for Various Nitrogen Rates under Full Irrigation, Limited Irrigation, and Rainfed Settings in South Central Nebraska. J. Irrig. Drain Eng., 10.1061/(ASCE)IR.1943-4774.0001023, 04016017.
- Rudnick, D.R., S. Irmak, A. Haghverdi, C.A. Burr, T.M. Shaver, and T.J. Dorr. 2016. Soil Water Sensors for Irrigation Management. UNL EC3002. Extension Circular, University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension.
- Schlegel, A.J., Y. Assefa, L.A. Haag, C.R. Thompson, J.D. Holman, and L.R. Stone. 2017. Yield and soil water in three dryland wheat and grain sorghum rotations. Agron. J. 109:227-238.
- V. Uddameri, A., Karim, E. A. Hernandez, P.K. Srivastava (2016); Sensitivity of Wells in a Large Groundwater Monitoring Network and its Evaluation using GRACE satellite derived information; in Sensitivity Analysis in Earth Observation Modeling; G. P. Petropoulos and P. K. Srivastava (eds); Elsevier Inc., 235 - 254.
- van Donk, S.J. and T.M. Shaver. Effects of Nitrogen Application Frequency via Subsurface Drip Irrigation on Corn Development and Grain Yield. 2016. Journal of Plant Nutrition. Volume 39, Issue 13. Pgs. 1830-1839.
- Warren, J., A. Stoecker, R. Jones, K. Ramaswamy, and T. Beedy. 2016. Economic viability of grain sorghum and corn as a function of irrigation capacity. CR-2173. Oklahoma State University, Stillwater. Nov. 2016
- Warren, J., A. Stoecker, R. Jones, B. Lane, K. Ramaswamy, and T. Beedy. 2016. Crop insurance limitations to adoption of irrigated grain sorghum. CR-2174. Oklahoma State University, Stillwater. Dec. 2016
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