Location: Sustainable Water Management Research
Project Number: 6066-13000-006-037-A
Project Type: Cooperative Agreement
Start Date: Jul 1, 2025
End Date: May 30, 2029
Objective:
Groundwater withdrawals from the Mississippi River Valley Alluvial Aquifer are increasing, which puts the economic sustainability of row crop production at risk. The objectives of this agreement will support agricultural producers across the Lower Mississippi River Basin by developing tools, products, and solutions to allow for increased production and profitability while stabilizing groundwater levels. Stable groundwater levels will allow agricultural production throughout the Lower Mississippi River Basin to thrive for generations to come, and these findings will be applicable to other agricultural production areas across the United States that rely on groundwater for irrigation. The overall objective of this agreement is to conduct research in support of congressionally mandated obligations on sustainable water use. Specific objectives are:
1. Conduct research to develop robust datasets and models to determine the impact, and barriers to adoption, of alternate water supplies for irrigation.
2. Develop optimized irrigation systems and tools to minimize water withdrawals from the aquifer.
3. Develop novel integrated sensor systems which integrate with decision support models for improvements to irrigation efficiency.
4. Evaluate crop management practices to develop improved best management practices to include irrigation, crop management, and conservation practices such as tillage, cover crops, and edge-of-field buffer zones.
5. Engage stakeholders through Extension partners to understand producer behaviors and attitudes with respect to conservation management and to conduct technology transfer for practices and technologies developed in this agreement.
Approach:
This project will achieve the research objectives by carrying out a mix of on-station and on-farm projects. The guiding principle is to ensure objectives are met through the use of applicable real-world data so that findings may be readily implemented in commercial agricultural production. This endeavor will assess irrigation, crop production, hydrology, and remote sensing at both plot and field scales. The work aims to result in reduced withdrawals from the Mississippi River Valley Alluvial Aquifer for irrigation while increasing crop production and profitability throughout the Lower Mississippi River Basin. The Mississippi River Delta is primarily irrigated using surface (furrow) irrigation, while much of the rest of the United States employs overhead irrigation or other methods, which are generally considered more efficient. The Delta region employs surface irrigation in order to take advantage of the land forming, which is employed to handle the large amounts of off-season rain typically received in the area. While other forms of irrigation will be studied, the primary focus of this project will be on improvements to surface irrigation.