Managing Agricultural Water Resources in the Southern Region: Perspectives of Crop Growers

The sustainability of agricultural commodities produced in the Southern U.S. under irrigation is increasingly at risk due to erratic rainfall patterns, inadequate water supplies and compromised water quality. This study assessed the needs of crop growers in the United States Department of Agricultur...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inWater (Basel) Vol. 16; no. 13; p. 1841
Main Authors Donovan, Megan, Chanes, Christina, Gholson, Drew, Kadyampakeni, Davie M., Swisher, Marilyn E., Connor, Tiffany
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Basel MDPI AG 01.07.2024
Subjects
Agricultural production
agricultural water resource management
Agriculture
Climate change
crop growers
Data collection
Drought
Farmers
Food
Irrigation
Land-grant colleges
Management decisions
needs assessment
Questionnaires
Rain
Southern Region
Sustainability
water availability
Water resources management
Water shortages
Water supply
North Carolina
Puerto Rico
Mississippi
Virgin Islands-US
United States > US
Texas
Louisiana
Georgia
Florida
Arkansas
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Summary:The sustainability of agricultural commodities produced in the Southern U.S. under irrigation is increasingly at risk due to erratic rainfall patterns, inadequate water supplies and compromised water quality. This study assessed the needs of crop growers in the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Southern Region. The purpose was to identify growers’ critical water resource management concerns to identify research priorities from the perspective of growers in this region. To obtain this information, a questionnaire was developed and distributed to growers throughout the Southern Region in 2020. The final sample included 111 crop (row and specialty) production growers from the Southern Region. Overall, respondents named the water available to irrigate as the greatest water resource management priority. Within all the water availability priorities asked, respondents’ first choice was declining water supply in the future. Declining water supply and the cost of irrigating presently were the next most frequently named water availability priorities. Growers named both increasing the efficiency of irrigation and development of farming practices to improve soil moisture retention as the primary and secondary focus of future irrigation research, respectively. These results will aid in strengthening existing and developing new initiatives for water research and Extension in this region.
ISSN:2073-4441
2073-4441
DOI:10.3390/w16131841