This is especially true in dryland agriculture. The challenge is to manage soils so they will be as productive for future generations as they are today. Understanding problems associated with dryland agricultural productivity will help identify appropriate management technologies that sustain agricultural productivity in the Great Plains. The major problem associated with dryland agriculture is profitability. The traditional wheat-fallow rotation is generally not profitable.
Many producers diversify through cattle and irrigated crop production to increase profitability.
The primary reason for marginal dryland crop productivity and profitability is limited amounts of available water. In the semi-arid Great Plains environment, total precipitation is less than the evapotranspiration demand, thus, yields are limited by plant available water. At the same time, excessive water loss can occur through intensive tillage and poor weed control practices. Another water related problem is low water use efficiency, expressed as pounds of grain produced per inch of soil water used by the crop. This ratio is low in wheat-fallow, which indicates that fallowing is an inefficient way of storing and using water.