Year Awarded 2021
FFAR award amount $970,931
Total award amount $1,941,862
Location Las Cruces, NM
Program Seeding Solutions
Matching Funders Elephant Butte Irrigation District, New Mexico State University, New Mexico Water Resources Research Institute, Thornburg Foundation
Grantee Institution New Mexico State University
Drought risks continue to challenge farmers in the U.S. Southwest. Leaving cultivated land unused—fallowing—represents a potentially crucial water-saving strategy. However, the costs and benefits of fallowing remain uncertain. NMSU researchers are developing a Hydrologic-Agricultural-Economic model that evaluates alternative fallowing strategies. The researchers will integrate the hydrologic modeling with remote sensing data, field measurements and socioeconomic information to inform where fallowing can optimally provide targeted benefits.