If water is available and if increased atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrates can mitigate yield losses in dry years, cotton is expected to remain a viable crop for the Texas High Plains even with climate change.

Texas A&M AgriLife Research geospatial hydrologist Srinivasulu Ale says: “We believe cotton production in the Texas High Plains can withstand the effects of future climate variability under moderate increases in carbon dioxide levels.” 

Ale, with Pradip Adhikari, AgriLife Research post-doctoral research associate in Vernon, and Jim Bordovsky, AgriLife Research senior research scientist and agricultural engineer in Lubbock/Halfway, among others  participated in the study—“Simulating future climate change impacts on seed cotton yield in the Texas High Plains using the CSM-CROPGRO-Cotton model,”  which was recently published in the Agricultural Water Management Journal.

The overall study was funded by Cotton Incorporated with model calibration partially supported by a Texas A&M Water Seed Grant. Learn more about the study.