Pathways to sustaining agriculture and communities in the Ogallala region

Authors: STEINER, JEAN - Kansas State University; LISONBEE, JOEL - National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA); KREMEN, AMY - Colorado State University; Cibils, Andres

Submitted to: Journal of Soil and Water Conservation
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 10/28/2024
Publication Date: 11/5/2024
Citation: Steiner, J.L., Lisonbee, J., Kremen, A., Cibils, A.F. 2024. Pathways to sustaining agriculture and communities in the Ogallala region. Journal of Soil and Water Conservation. 79(6):99A-105A. https://doi.org/10.2489/jswc.2024.1001A.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.2489/jswc.2024.1001A

Interpretive Summary: The Ogallala Aquifer supports thriving agricultural communities across the western Great Plains of the United States stretching from South Dakota to the Texas Panhandle. Due to overallocation, water level declines have been severe in many parts of the aquifer, particularly in the southern and western portions. Based on current trends, the anticipated usable lifespan of some of the most productive areas of the aquifer can be measured on the order of decades. A warming climate, which typically intensifies pumping for crop irrigation, may shorten this timeframe, particularly with “business as usual” crop production and rotations and irrigation management patterns. Despite an entrenched perception of aquifer depletion inevitability, an emerging culture of dialog combined with new possibilities afforded by sensors that yield real-time data streams, better management tools, and collaborative strategies, are contributing to a growing sense that practical feasible pathways exist to sustain communities and agriculture in the region. This viewpoint paper draws from discussions held during most recent Ogallala Aquifer Summit and provides the most up-to-date perspectives offered by producers, allied industry, water managers, crop consultants, Extension, and scientists who participated in this Summit.

Technical Abstract: Ogallala aquifer depletion has local to global ramifications. What “can be done” to address depletion is similarly of global significance. A longstanding mindset of inevitability of groundwater depletion in the region is shifting thanks to the existence of increasingly feasible pathways for a wide range of actors to support productive shifts in conservation-oriented agricultural management at multiple scales, and efforts to boost within and cross-state awareness of and engagement in these pathways. The Ogallala Aquifer Summits have been key in coalescing thinking and action around a new vision for the future of the region through iterative and interactive, facilitated discussions that help identify the factors, programs, investment, and knowledge required to scale land use and water management shifts to sustain the region’s communities and agriculture Over time, this conversation has evolved. The first Summit in 2018 focused on the value of cultivating a culture of exchange between people, communities and states; the 2021 Summit focused on the need to align action and lay a foundation for workforce development to scale broader integration of data, tools, and conservation oriented practice, and collective rethinking about aquifer depletion as a “situation to manage rather than a problem to solve”; the 2024 Summit highlighted the untapped positive potential of engaging broader value chain support to protect food, fuel, and fiber sourcing regions and encourage policy shifts. Adaptive management is already proving essential for slowing aquifer decline; as climate change increases pressures on limited water resources, leveraging new tools combined with diverse sets of socially engaged actors and partners can help ensure the viability current and future generations in the Ogallala High-Plains region.