Beef Brief: A new Normal for Irrigated Agriculture to Sustain the Ogallala Aquifer
Creators: name: Steiner, Jean L.
name: Spiegal, Sheri
name: Elias, Emile
name: Aney, Skye
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2022
Subjects: Groundwater
Water conservation
Beef cattle
Sustainable agriculture

description: The Ogallala Aquifer underlies 45 million hectares, providing water for approximately 1.9 million people and supporting the robust agricultural economy of the US Great Plains. Beef is the dominant commodity, with Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas - major destinations for cattle from ranches of the arid Southwest – representing 35% of the nation’s cattle sales. Concentrated feeding operations in this region rely on irrigated agriculture for feeds and forages. Water in the Ogallala Aquifer has been severely depleted, particularly in the southern end. Continuing with business-as-usual water withdrawals puts the aquifer and the agricultural economy that is built upon it at risk. Kansas water policy allows flexible solutions to reduce groundwater extraction while supporting productivity and economic. Water allocations are reduced in exchange for increased flexibility such as multi-year water allocation, banking of unused water for future years, and changes in location or use of allocated water. Demonstrated water conservation successes in Kansas show a path toward a “new normal” for irrigation in the Ogallala Aquifer region. Water managers and policy makers capitalize on the value of increased flexibility to encourage irrigators to accept reduced allocation. Creative government and private–public partnerships should support adoption of innovative technologies and management as end-users chart a new normal for irrigated agriculture to sustain this critical aquifer resource and the vibrant beef sector that is an economic engine for the Southern Plains and Southwest regions. The Ogallala Aquifer underlies 45 million hectares, providing water for approximately 1.9 million people and supporting the robust agricultural economy of the US Great Plains. Beef is the dominant commodity, with Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas - major destinations for cattle from ranches of the arid Southwest – representing 35% of the nation’s cattle sales. Concentrated feeding operations in this region rely on irrigated agriculture for feeds and forages. Water in the Ogallala Aquifer has been severely depleted, particularly in the southern end. Continuing with business-as-usual water withdrawals puts the aquifer and the agricultural economy that is built upon it at risk. Kansas water policy allows flexible solutions to reduce groundwater extraction while supporting productivity and economic. Water allocations are reduced in exchange for increased flexibility such as multi-year water allocation, banking of unused water for future years, and changes in location or use of allocated water. Demonstrated water conservation successes in Kansas show a path toward a “new normal” for irrigation in the Ogallala Aquifer region. Water managers and policy makers capitalize on the value of increased flexibility to encourage irrigators to accept reduced allocation. Creative government and private–public partnerships should support adoption of innovative technologies and management as end-users chart a new normal for irrigated agriculture to sustain this critical aquifer resource and the vibrant beef sector that is an economic engine for the Southern Plains and Southwest regions.
description: Funding sources: - USDA-Agricultural Research Service Long-Term Agroecosystem Research (LTAR) Network, 005:040, 005:18 - USDA-National Institute of Food and Agriculture, Grant Number 2019-69012-29853