Texas Alliance for
Water Conservation
Rick Kellison, Project Director
Declining Water Resources
7,000,000
6,000,000
Acres
5,000,000
4,000,000
3,000,000
2,000,000
1,000,000
‐
Texas Tech University
NRCS & ARS




Demonstrate how to
reduce total water use
Demonstrate how to
enhance profitability
Identify effective crop
and irrigation systems
Impact producer
decision-making
Cotton
Monocultures
Cotton-Cattle
Corn
Cotton
Grass-cattle
Grain Sorghum
Cotton
Specialty Crops
Sprinkler
Furrow
Sub-surface Drip
Dryland

Rainfall

Temperature

Water applied


Netirrigate ®

PivoTrac ®
Soil moisture

AquaSpy®

Field Connect ®

Production inputs

Plant & animal yields

Economic analysis
3,000
2,500
Acres
2,000
1,500
1,000
500
0
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
(4289 ac.) (4230 ac.) (4087 ac.) (3967 ac.) (3991 ac.) (4272 ac.) (4133 ac.) (4732 ac.)
Cotton
Corn - all
Sorghum - all
Perennial forage
Grazed acres
Year (total acres)
Small grains
Other
(Planting Date: 1 May)
(Rajan and Maas)
(Rajan and Maas)
Crop
Yield /acre
Inch/acre
Yield/inch
Profit/acre
Profit/inch
Sorghum
(bu)
115
7.9
14.5
248.30
31.40
Corn (bu)
214
17.4
12.3
479.40
27.60
1275
11.9
99.6
336.50
26.30
Cotton (lbs)
* Profit is defined as total revenue per acre less all field level cash
Expenses. Within this data, profit does not reflect fixed expenses.
Grain Sorghum
Corn
Cotton
Rainfall
Events
Drip Irrigations
4”-20” zones
wetting up when
drip is turned on.
Rainfall stored
moisture all the
way to 48”

Pioneer 86G32

82.8 acres produced 8816 pounds/acre


Total water supply = 9.3 inches irrigation and 13.4
inches rain =22.7 inches
Water use efficiency = 411 lbs/inch




Pioneer Aqua Max Yellow Hybrid
54.1 acres produced 818,240 pounds
grain = 240.5 bushels/acre
Total water supply = 16.9 inches irrigation and
13.0 inches rain =32.9 inches
Water use efficiency = 7.32 bushels/inch

FM 2484 B2F

92.3 acres produced 1891 pounds/acre


Total water supply = 11 inches irrigation and 13.9
inches rain =24.9 inches
Water use efficiency = 75.9 lbs/inch
LESA
LEPA
2011
LEPA
PER ACRE GROSS INCOME Cotton lint
Cotton seed
PER ACRE TOTAL GROSS INCOME
PER ACRE TOTAL OF ALL COST
PER ACRE NET PROJECTED RETURNS
Percent Increase
APPLIED ‐ INCHES
Lint lbs per acre‐in of water applied
Percent Increase
Quantity
LESA
Total
1001 $ 900.90 0.72 $ 245.39 $ 1,146.29 $ 968.89 $ 177.40 193%
26.1
38.4
13.9%
Quantity
Total
879 $ 791.10 0.63 $ 215.48 $ 1,006.58 $ 945.93 $ 60.65 33.7
2012
LEPA
PER ACRE GROSS INCOME Cotton lint
Cotton seed
PER ACRE TOTAL GROSS INCOME
PER ACRE TOTAL OF ALL COST
PER ACRE NET PROJECTED RETURNS
Percent Increase
APPLIED ‐ INCHES
Lint lbs per acre‐in of water applied
Percent Increase
Quantity
LESA
Total
1057 $ 951.30 0.76 $ 213.39 $ 1,164.69 $ 980.33 $ 184.35 395%
19
55.6
18.0%
Quantity
Total
896 $ 806.40 0.65 $ 180.88 $ 987.28
$ 950.04 $ 37.25 47.2
2013
LEPA
PER ACRE GROSS INCOME Cotton lint
Cotton seed
PER ACRE TOTAL GROSS INCOME
PER ACRE TOTAL OF ALL COST
PER ACRE NET PROJECTED RETURNS
Percent Increase
APPLIED ‐ INCHES
Lint lbs per acre‐in of water applied
Percent Increase
Quantity
LESA
Total
1165 $ 873.75 0.84 $ 235.19 $ 1,108.94 $ 924.94 $ 184.00 155%
16.5
70.6
13.3%
Quantity
Total
1028 $ 771.00 0.74 $ 207.53 $ 978.53
$ 906.33 $ 72.20 62.3
Spray Mode
Spray mode is slow to
wet up soil
LEPA Mode
LEPA is quicker to wet
up soil
“Water is Our Future”
To be used as a planning aid
 Captures changes in commodity price,
water availability, and production costs
 Generates several options which maximize
net returns/acre

The procedure used to determine:

When to apply

How much water to apply

Specific Management Goals
Maximizing Water Use Efficiency
The Goal Of Production Agriculture
Texas Alliance for Water Conservation
3000
2006-2010
2011
Lbs per Acre
2500
2000
1500
1000
500
0
0
25
50
75
100
125
% Crop Water Demand
150
175
200