The impacts of water management on cotton production and sustainability in the Texas High Plains
| dc.contributor.committeeChair | Johnson, Phillip N. | |
| dc.contributor.committeeMember | McCallister, Donna | |
| dc.contributor.committeeMember | Hudson, Darren | |
| dc.contributor.committeeMember | Williams, Ryan B. | |
| dc.creator | Black, Taylor Adair | |
| dc.creator.orcid | 0000-0003-4380-6074 | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2018-06-01T20:35:21Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2018-06-01T20:35:21Z | |
| dc.date.created | 2018-05 | |
| dc.date.issued | 2018-05 | |
| dc.date.submitted | May 2018 | |
| dc.date.updated | 2018-06-01T20:35:21Z | |
| dc.description.abstract | The viability of the agricultural industry in the Texas High Plains depends on irrigation from the Ogallala aquifer to maintain yields and provide economic and environmental sustainability. As sustainability becomes a key component in agricultural production, there are opportunities to develop a framework for sustainability measurements and quantify environmental and economic progress. The emphasis of this study is to analyze the tradeoffs between management systems and provide a comprehensive evaluation of the effects of sustainability metrics on cotton production in the Texas High Plains. Using the Texas Alliance for Water Conservation farm site data, production functions were estimated for cotton lint yield relative to the level of irrigation across various irrigation delivery systems and the sites were evaluated on a production cost structure. The results show that SDI systems are expected to have higher cotton lint yields compared to center pivot systems. In addition, the sites were evaluated on environmental and economic sustainability through a producer’s sustainability “footprint”. Results suggest that an SDI system shows improved environmental sustainability. Currently the Fieldprint Calculator does not evaluate profitability: however, a profitability metric was created to incorporate profitability into the sustainability footprint. The strong post relationship between the profitability metric and the land use metric implies that the land use metric can be used to evaluate economic performance for cotton. Results from the study show that to be economically viable, cotton production in the SHP of Texas is primarily driven by yield, therefore, decisions made to enhance sustainability will be powered by a grower’s management of resources and the type of systems used in an operation to maximize production. | |
| dc.format.mimetype | application/pdf | |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/2346/73801 | |
| dc.language.iso | eng | |
| dc.rights.availability | Unrestricted. | |
| dc.subject | Cotton | |
| dc.subject | Sustainability | |
| dc.title | The impacts of water management on cotton production and sustainability in the Texas High Plains | |
| dc.type | Thesis | |
| dc.type.material | text | |
| thesis.degree.department | Agricultural Applied Economics | |
| thesis.degree.discipline | Agricultural and Applied Economics | |
| thesis.degree.grantor | Texas Tech University | |
| thesis.degree.level | Masters | |
| thesis.degree.name | Master of Science |