Panhandle Runs on Water : Crop rotation conserves groundwater
MOORE COUNTY, Texas (KVII) — Harvest for this year’s cotton crop in the upper counties of the Texas Panhandle is behind by a couple of weeks. A number of cotton growers are participating in a study to see how they can lower the demand for groundwater while still ensuring the crops yield can lead to a profit. In this week’s Panhandle Runs on Water, ABC 7 News looks at how results from a five year study are proving to be successful for the producer and for a depleting resource.
“We’ve had a light freeze,” said Nicholas Kenny, agriculture engineer. “This has been a great cotton year because it’s finished warm all throughout September and October. We start before Halloween, were happy to be done before Thanksgiving this year because it’s been so late will push into December.”
Cotton producers in the North Plains Groundwater Conservation District are taking part in a study on crop rotation to see how much groundwater they can save by planting corn one year and switching over to cotton the next in the same fields. Around 50% of cotton in the Texas Panhandle is irrigated.
“We have found with doing this study for five years is that we rely on the water that’s left over from the corn to help the next years cotton crop,” said Kenny. “Were finding that within the season of irrigating were irrigating less than ten inches on cotton and about 20 inches on corn.”
Stan Spain has farmed in Moore County for 42-years. Spain, tells ABC 7 News, due to the rising cost of fertilizer and water constraints there is a strong interest among producers to grow more cotton as a rotational crop with corn. Another benefit from the study is how the rotation improves the soils health.
“What we’re trying to do is save water up here and just cotton and corn rotation has always worked pretty well for me and I think that a lot of other farmers have found that to work well also.”
“About ten years ago we’re talking about 30,000 to 50,000 acres, two years ago there was over 500-thousand acres of cotton in the area,” said Kenny. “That change has been underway for the last couple of years. What we’re doing now is trying to figure out how to make that rotation sustainable for the next 30 to 40 years.”
Despite being a couple of weeks behind on the calendar for the traditional cotton harvest season, producers in this part of the Texas Panhandle tell ABC 7 News, the later in the year the better the quality of the cotton crop.
