Integrating Beef and Cotton Production Reduces Irrigation Needs in the Texas Southern High Plains

Integrating Beef and Cotton Production Reduces Irrigation Needs in the Texas Southern High Plains

The Texas High Plains is a semiarid agricultural region located in the central south plains of the United States. This area exemplifies semiarid regions where water is becoming scarce. Crop production depends heavily on irrigation primarily from the Ogallala aquifer at non-sustainable rates of use. Irrigated monoculture cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) is the dominant crop but grazing livestock in this once vast grassland is re-emerging as the aquifer declines. Environmental benefits of integrated crop and livestock systems have been suggested. We compared a cotton monoculture with an integrated cotton-forage-beef stocker steer system over 10 yr to determine effects on irrigation water use, profitability, and other measures of sustainability. Long-term systems research can reveal dynamic changes that short term studies fail to capture and can provide opportunities to improve ecosystem function and sustainability (Allen et al. 2008).