Brief Summary of Minutes of Annual Meeting

W3190 Meeting Minutes

8:00-8:15am       Introduction      

Stephan Kroll: Opening remarks and logistics

Roll call and Introductions

Mike H:  Possibility of working together with water quality group to collaborate on a water project aimed at western water issues. (SAS AFRI?).  Willing to facilitate.

8:15-8:30   Overview of W-3190 scope and objectives, current project (Kristi Hansen and Nathan Hendricks)

Nathan H: Project needs to be renewed.

Kristi H: Small group is proceeding with initial proposal. They will outline objectives with specific milestones (ask Kristi for word document, and it will be circulated by email for states to accomplish these objectives).

8:30-10:00am    W4190 project proposal presentation by the ad hoc writing committee, discussion by the group as a whole, and organization of break-out groups (Ad hoc committee: Margaret Gitau, Todd Guilfoos, Kristi Hansen, Krishna Paudel, Karina Schoengold. Advisors: Nick Brozovic and Jeff Peterson)

Thoughts on W4190 proposal

Kristi H: East versus west water management, and balance of interdisciplinary researchers with economists.   

            Temporary 4190 with Sarah Lupis

            November 15^th, upload 4190 objectives, call for participations, fill out appendices to NIMSS. January 15^th, full proposal due.

            Three possible topics/objectives

1. Characterize water resource and human system responses to climatic and anthropogenic perturbations.
   1. How do land use and mineral affect water resources? How do we quantify risk in these systems?
   2. Projections for short and long term

2. Coordinated management of water resources and land use practices (for long-term sustainability).
   1. Best Management practices for quantity and quality
   2. Salinity Management for reclaimed and treated effluent in agricultural systems
   3. Institutions

3. Quantifying water demand and economic value of competing and complementary water uses.
   1. Competition between energy, ecosystems, recreation, urban, environment, etc.
   2. production value
   3. social value and welfare effects
   4. social equity

4. Evaluate and compare alternative water quality and quantity management strategies and institutions.
   1. Water trading
   2. Collaborative and adaptive management
   3. Allocation mechanism
   4. Collective action
   5. Developing new sources
   6. Water grabbing

Mike H: Tension in competition in populations and food. Evaluating buy and dry versus food security. 

A new administrator advisor will be a facilitator.

Proposal goes out for review, multi-state review committee, revision process to satisfy external reviews. This committee is similar in its operation and process as others.

Garth T: This proposal needs to include quality—how do we look and quality and quantity simultaneously?

Ariel D: Including a focus on reclaimed/recycled water

Jeff P: Should we expand to explicitly include urban/municipal/industrial in the new paradigm with water quality and quantity tradeoffs.  Using a BMP approach and framing for the objectives?

Karina S: Explicitly include “behavior” in our objectives and approaches

Jeff : Repeated logic under each objective (example: farm level, city level, institution level OR quality, quantity, behavior)

Other Thoughts from the group:

Should we tailor and be more explicit about extension and pushing out the research?

Maybe use objective 1 for new project name?

10:15-10:30am Introduction of NOAA-RISA Western Water Assessment, Lisa Dilling

Lisa D:  Western Water Assessment—Colorado Wyoming and Utah.  CO-production of knowledge and products with stakeholders.

Current project looking at the state of science in the Colorado River.

NIDAS- drought information system—how are people using this information and responding to drought.

Drought Decision Ranching Model (http://ranching.io)

What drought indices are used insurance and how are there perverse incentives (Palmer, SPEI, USDM, EDDI) different payouts. Anecdote: People destroy or move station to trigger insurance payment

Email: ldilling@colorado.edu

10:15-12:00pm State/Agency Reports

Big Ideas and projects proposed or underway

Jeff:      Soil health practices.  NRCS is very interested in soil health economics.

Urban storm water management—water retention trading (farmers create retention basins for cities)

National Academy of Science: Identify water topics within the nation, report we need to investigate, and look at the questions they propose.

UCOWR will be in Saint Paul, looking for special sessions.

Public gains to agricultural research—we need public gains to other emerging technologies (perennial wheat, eco-innovation, etc.)

Lucy: Flows into the sultan see

            Alternatives to row crops that reduce runoff—survey and pay for “trust”

            Invasive species management value to agriculture and potential pollution reduction

            Drinking water, lead risk management and CBA

Jordan: Groundwater use and management in the Ogallala Aquifer. Using a hydro-econ integrated model.

CBARE: Colorado and Georgia, monthly water withdrawals from groundwater, experimental reciprocity. Water use comparisons across like neighbors.

Colorado and Iowa, the impact of tile drain systems (tile drains) and the optimal runoff/land retirement strategies.

Chris: Using ERS inhouse insurance data to identify insurance-water use relationship.

            Downscaled climate projections and timing of water looking at institutional responsiveness 

Gabe: Peer effects in decisions to appropriate a water right and use an irrigation technology. 

Measuring spill-over effects in Kansas

            Groundwater stocks capitalized into farmland sales prices. 

Paulo: Water availability at the global scale

            Looking at crop portfolios to increase production and decrease water

            Biofuels impact on water use

            Virtual water and water trade and globalization via land investments / land grabbing

Garth & Alex: New conflicts will be between ag and ag and ag and environment. 

            ESPA 13% curtailment

How do we use reservoirs as they are since we will not be adding others?

Water use by cities is going down

            Greg Alward, open source IMPLAN in for a new grant.

            Looking at the relationship between soil enhancement practices and water

1:00-3:00 Workshop on developing effective impact statements - Rocky Mountain Research Station (across from the Hilton)

The takeaway message is we need to improve our impact statements.

8:00-9:30am State/Agency Reports

Nathan: Need to find a place for next year.

Steven: Conservation plan in California evaluating (CBA) the proposed distribution system. Examining how ratepayers may be affected by forced curtailment. Estimating urban water demand for the future. O-Power, consumption analytics and social comparisons for city of Folsom, CA. Additionally, He is looking at the issues with forecasting using different methods, machine learning versus traditional econometrics. Assessed the 2015 drought mandate in terms of welfare. Evaluated efficiency versus implementations. (Objectives 3 2 and 1)

Kristi: Ogallala aquifer economic analysis of alternative groundwater strategies, learning lessons from Kansas and Nebraska.  Concerns over Colorado Compact triggers, how do upper basin states meet obligations and continue power generation, effects on eco-function and services. (Objective 4)

Travis: A national forecast of water use in the country to be out in 2020.  This includes both demands and yields.  Requirements for the FS to analyze ecosystem services, rolling out projects to value ecosystem services on all national forest land. (Objective 2).  Bringing together a suite of ecosystem valuation tools.

Ariel: Adaptation to climate change and water scarcity in desert regions of California. (old Objective 1). Collected primary data from farmers in 4 counties to understand their response/behavior to water scarcity and supply.  Ultimately estimate profitability and adaptation (retirement, crop choice, etc.) to climate and policy.   (old Objective 2) Calculating distortions creating by groundwater policy and estimate damages. (old Objective 3) Water reuse and reclamation, perception and decision changes, collect data on wastewater treatment and reuse, effluent to irrigation opportunities. More data on cost needs to be done. Doing work in Spain looking at the connectivity of rivers and aquifers.  New work: USDA managed aquifer recharge.  (Objective 1) utilize a unique dataset to explore why water utilities transform price and conservation strategies and which ones. (Objective 2) Subsidence and economic losses associated with it; optimal policies. (Objective 3) Extend the work in Spain.

Krishna: Louisiana. Willingness to Pay/Accept for additional irrigation water. Struggling with farmer participation because they are worried about policy around water use and salinity. BMP’s impacts on water quality and quantity.  LSU and Baton Rouge is suffering from salt water intrusion, capturing saline water and pumping it to the Mississippi, CBA and implications of salinity and conjunctive water use (Objective 1a 2acd 3c 4a).

Mark: Sagebrush conservation. (Objective 4) Evaluating adaptive collaborative management for watersheds and stakeholders. Investigating the link from fire to water quality. Looking at interstate compact around the Platt River. Next step getting funding for these projects. 

Jeff: Flint river basin analysis around drought.  Incentivizing farmers to switch to groundwater or drill to deeper aquifers. Risk around well failure drives adoption, setting up choice experiments to figure out what type of farmers and what incentives get them to change irrigation methods. Survey or graywater attitudes and receptiveness—a national sample.  Row crops transform to high value crops, what are the pesticide pressures and water pressures.  (Objective 4, 2)

Karina: Special issue created by 3190.  Ogallala with Jordan (see above).  Evaluating differential groundwater management polices across Nebraska.  Energy/water use with real-time monitors on irrigation wells—grant to expand that network. How do well characteristics affect the types of contract chosen.   Tying conservation programs (CRP) and land use to aquifer levels and responses.

Eric: The roll of agricultural growth and irrigation. (Objective 1c)  Using historic data to evaluate adaptation to climate change. Evaluating fragmentation of management on groundwater. Water Utilities don’t believe price matters.  Tribal water studies. Declining water levels in the great salt lake, water trading—inter-basin—may be an efficient way to address this issue.

Mark: ERS is moving and lots of people want to get out of USDA. Farm Bill, the SNAP program is a hang up. Should it be extension through the university?  House version charges NIFA with consolidating budget lines, finding efficiencies by creating 3 buckets: research and discover, extension and engagement, and education.  25% of experiment station spending must go to multistate hatch.

Jeramiah: Upper part of Michigan working with industry (Coca-cola) and TNC to attempt to increase water replenishment practices.  Quantify the physical and economic impacts of aquifer recharge.  For Water Quality, southeast Michigan, what influences conservation adoption in agriculture—a farmer led project.  Wetland—surface and subsurface—monitoring of phosphorous.

Grant: No need to add nitrogen when moving from alfalfa to corn. Modeling the Bear River Basin and other hydrological changes—snow pack, hydrograph, etc.  $14 million annual funding for water-climate issues. Remote sensing work to determine areas of vulnerability under water yield changes.  Need to be better coupled with allocation mechanisms. Improve technologies to sense salinity, variable rate inputs, and other factors that influence growth. Director of soil labs group, 160 labs participate, meeting in January.

Kent: (Objective 2) Irrigation is huge part of agriculture (rice).  Rebound effects in agriculture, efficiency does not necessarily reduce consumptive use.  Water banking and aquifer recharge, economic analysis (CBA) in Eastern Arkansas. How does water “situation” induce crop and irrigation choice. Does the size of rebound change based on adoption rate.  (Objective 3) Social value of groundwater—choice experiment. 

Laura: Special issues on institutions and water. Adoption of pressure irrigation.  Adoption of solar irrigation pumps, if energy is free and able to irrigate in new places, how does this affect water use. Adoption of stormwater management practices and other household practices.  Organic manure perceptions. P-free laws in the US. Adoption of cover crops.

Danelle: Climate hubs are connectors and amplifiers. Low cost energy meters for irrigation (Kristi), to improve monitoring. Hub create tools (Ag risk viewer and SMERGE).

Margaret: Water quality and quantity issues.  Climate and extreme events—distributions and the impact on water quality and quantity.  Downscaling and weather generators…GCM does not capture extremes. Impact of subsurface drainage (tile drains) transport of phosphorous to Lake Erie.  GCM and SWAT joint modeling. Impacts of green infrastructure on storm water, hydrograph and quality.  FEWS long-term, where to store and transport (Objective 2). Data driven decision making in developing countries.

Nathan: Survey for farmers preferences for allocations. How big of a cut would they support, how do they feel about seniority and trading?  Understanding distributional impacts is complicated. Land values as they relate to aquifer levels, well capacities, and seniority (methods, econometrics and machine learning algorithms).  Spillover of aquifer to non-ag industries (Objective 3 and 4).  ERS will send out sample survey in 2019 (Steve Wilder--Aaron).

10:15-12:15  Break-out groups for W4190 project proposal planning and writing

Kristi: Putting together workshop for 4190 to bring together water stakeholders. And other multi-state groups.  Potentially include a SAS grant application in the next iteration. Requesting paragraphs for 4190 a week from now.

Danelle: Lou Swanson.  Initiated new group WDC42 “Climate and Ag group”

12:15-12:30pm Location and dates of 2019 Meeting, selection of Secretary for next year

Location: Minneapolis Next year (Jeff and Lucy will organize).

Date: TBD

Format: We should invite stakeholders and policy makers to connect research with the community.

Secretary next year: Travis Warziniack

Vice-chair: Alexander Maas

Chair: Kent Kovacs

Objective 1: Characterize bio-physical and economic factors (and interactions) that influence water-use decisions and related market or non-market outcomes.

Nebraska (Schoengold)

Schoengold and colleague (Mieno) supervised an MS thesis (Riley, 2018) that evaluates the impact of changes in landcover on expected aquifer recharge. Results show that changes from cropland to grassland can reduce underlying recharge, but that impacts are heterogeneous across locations.

Schoengold and colleague (Mieno) supervised an MS thesis (Hackbart, 2017) that evaluates the impact of underlying soil and aquifer conditions on an irrigator's choice of electricity contract. Results show that those with sandier soils or lower well capacity are less likely to enroll in interruptible supply contracts.

Schoengold and colleagues at Colorado State University (Goemans, Manning, Suter) are working with colleagues on an interstate and interdisciplinary grant to develop a hydro-economic model that evaluates producer decisions about water use under alternative climate and policy scenarios.

Schoengold and a former student (Khachaturyan) published a paper that evaluates the potential for transboundary cooperation in a portion of the Kura-Araks River basin (Azerbaijan and Georgia). Results show that an agreement is most likely to be effective when multiple issues (water quantity and quality management) are linked in the negotiation.

Arkansas (Kovacs)

One conference paper about how the lateral flow of groundwater affects the optimal pumping.

California (Dinar and D'Odorico)

Adaptation to climate change and water scarcity in desert regions of California. Modeling resilience of farming sector in desert and southern California regions as affected by bio-physical and economic factors.

A PhD student (Arisha Ashraf) completed dissertation and graduated.  Papers are being reviewed in technical journals. Results were presented in national and international meetings.

The presence of tradeable water rights allows for the establishment of a water market in which oil companies may acquire water that can be used for shale oil and gas extraction, thereby reducing the water available for irrigation.

As unconventional oil and gas extraction is expanding globally, it is important to understand the effect that the additional water consumption from hydraulic fracturing might have on water resources and food systems. We have quantified the amount of global unconventional shale oil and gas deposits located in water scarce areas. Evidence from the U.S. indicates that oil and gas corporations are generally able to secure freshwater in water scarce areas and drought periods, by acquiring water from other users, typically farmers.

Thus, during drought, shale oil and gas extraction (which requires comparably much more water than conventional oil and gas) does not remain limited by water availability. Through water markets water shifts from agricultural to energy extraction uses, where the economic productivity of water is higher.

Colorado (Suter, Goemans & Kroll)

Worked with colleagues in the department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at CSU to analyze the impact of tile drain systems on water quality outcomes.

Submitted manuscript with colleagues Dale Manning, Chris Goemans, and Mani Rouhi Rad at CSU based on stated-preferences for increases in groundwater quantities in the Ogallala Region.

Submitted manuscript with Dale Manning and Chris Goemans and Ryan Shepler related to conservation practices and preferences concerning groundwater management policies in Colorado

US Forest Service (Warziniack)

Representatives from USFS Research and State and Private attended and presented at the Nature Conservancy's Water Fund Science Workshop in April. Attendees were primarily from the Nature Conservancy, water utilities, and partners interested in developing water markets and building water-related collaborations, from all over the world.

Kansas (Hendricks and Sampson)

Advised a graduate student to develop a paper and present at academic meetings titled Impact of Climate Change on Groundwater Extraction for Corn Production in Kansas. This work analyzes how farmers change irrigation water use in response to changes in evapotranspiration and precipitation.

A working paper titled, Land Market Valuation of Groundwater Availability was completed during the reporting period and submitted to a journal. The paper was also presented at two academic meetings. This paper uses parcel-level land sales in Kansas to estimate how the availability of irrigation increases the market value of land and how the market valuation depends on the saturated thickness of the aquifer.  

Published an article titled Potential Benefits from Innovations to Reduce Heat and Water Stress in Agriculture. This article estimates the impact of climate change on agricultural rental rates and decomposes the total effect into the effect through heat stress and water stress.

A working paper titled, The Role of Peer Effects in Natural Resource Appropriation – The Case of Groundwater was accepted at a peer reviewed economic journal. This paper investigates how social interactions among growers affect the diffusion of groundwater rights.

Missouri (McCann)

Yubing Fan and Laura McCann submitted a manuscript on adoption of water management practices to the J. of Agricultural and Resource Economics.  The title is: Farmers’ Adoption of Pressure Irrigation Systems and Scientific Irrigation Scheduling Practices: An Application of Multilevel Models.  We received a revise and resubmit on the paper and have resubmitted the improved article. 

A poster on adoption of solar irrigation pumps was presented at the Soil and Water Conservation Society meetings in July, 2018.  The title was Adoption of Solar Irrigation Pumps on U.S. Farms: A Multilevel Model Analysis. 

Minnesota (Peterson and Levers)

Designing a model integrating SWAT and an agro-economic optimization to analyze drivers’ impacts on adoption of cover and perennial crops for an NSF INFEWS grant.

Designing a non market valuation survey for aquatic invasive species management using water quality indicators for a MAISRC grant.

Analyzing survey data (choice experiment) to estimate growers’ willingness to accept subsidy payments to grow cover and perennial crops for a Minnesota BWSR grant.

North Carolina (Edwards)

Grant Proposal: U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agriculture and Food Research Initiative: Water Management, Markets, and Incentives to Enhance Food Production in the Upper Colorado River Basin, Co-PI, Requested $5,136,199, not funded. With Kristi Hansen, University of Wyoming.

Grant Proposal: National Science Foundation: Coupled Natural-Human Systems Grant: CNH-S: The Coupled Dynamics of Economic and Ecosystem Production in a Water-Scarce Basin. PI, $737,502, not funded.

Wyoming (Hansen)

In collaboration with W3190 member Brozovic (UNL), Hansen has begun a project to examine the potential for real-time energy metering to improve on-farm decision-making regarding water management in groundwater-fed southeastern Wyoming (Ogallala Aquifer). Real-time energy meters have been installed on irrigators’ pumps in the region and one season’s worth of data has been collected.

Rhode Island (Guilfoos)

Tested psychological factors in natural resource usage to determine if mental scarcities affect common resource usage decisions.

Louisiana (Paudel)

We modeled farmers' decision to allocate farmland under different irrigation management practices.

Idaho (Taylor and Maas)

Characterized the relationship between residential electricity and water use. 

Begun work on evaluating soil health enhancement techniques in specialty crops, which have the potential to increase water retention and decrease pests.

Utah (Cardon)

There were a number of accomplishments associated with the research conducted under this project.  These accomplishments resulted in one MS thesis and one PhD Dissertation at Utah State University which produced several awards for the graduate students involved, reflecting the quality of the work. 

Under this project a new salinity tolerance screening technique and apparatus for greenhouse use was developed.  The apparatus produces a near-continuous gradient in irrigation water and soil salinity that can be used in highly replicated, rapid screening of crop or ornamental plants (or varieties or cultivars within a species) over a predetermined range of salinity.  The paper describing this new technique was awarded the graduate student paper of the year award by the American Pomological Society. 

Three additional peer-reviewed journal papers from another graduate student's research were published on the measurement and calibration of remotely sensed soil salinity using electromagnetic induction in the Soil Science Society of America Journal, and Geoderma.  The calibration methods we developed employ a new mathematical tool for such analyses not previously applied to soil science.  The method (quantile regression) is frequently employed in medical science to determine the contribution of various groups to observed data of human characteristics such as height, weight, etc., and helps to quantify the weightings of various stata in the data to the mean observation.  The application of this technique to understanding the contribution of subsurface soil layers to the conductivity of the bulk soil at the surface, is the seminal publication on the technique and a significant contribution to the science.  The PhD student responsible for the research was awarded several individual paper awards at professional scientific meetings and was chosen as the Utah State University College of Agriculture's Graduate Researcher of the Year in 2013.  Other papers by this student demonstrate the biases that various lab measurements of soil salinity can potentially impose on the validity of ground truth, direct sampling results and the calibration of remote sensing techniques and then applies the calibration and remote sensing processes to determine the sources and loading of contaminate solutes in a sensitive wetland preserve in the Uintah Basin of Utah. 

The research work under this project should prove to be important advances in plant salinity tolerance assessment and the calibration of remotely sensed, electromagnetic induction measurements of soil salinity, thereby improving the accuracy of remote areal assessments of the extent and severity of soil salinization and its potential impact on plant-soil-water interactions in salt-affected regions of the world.  In addition to the several print articles, thesis and dissertation noted previously, the students involved also offered numerous oral and poster presentations at local regional and national professional scientific meetings including the annual meetings of the Western Society of Soil Science, The Soil Science Society of America, and the American Geophysical Union.

Objective 2: Develop or enhance methods to address emerging water management issues.

Indiana (Gitau)

The impact of different numbers of realizations (1, 25, 50, and 100) on the suitability of weather data generated from three widely used generators was investigated. Specifically, 50 years of daily precipitation, and maximum and minimum temperatures were generated for three weather stations in the Western Lake Erie Basin (WLEB), using CLIGEN, LARSWG and WeaGETS. Generated results were compared with 50 years of observed daily data. For all three generators, the analyses showed that one realization of data was not representative enough to capture essential statistical characteristics of the climate. Performance did not improve substantially when realizations were increased above 25 suggesting that this was a suitable number to use. Increasing the number of realizations did not improve performance if the generator was not able to capture the variable at all. Results provide guidance

to enable more accurate and efficient weather data simulation for use with hydrologic, agricultural, and environmental applications.

Weather generator LARS-WG representation of climate extremes was evaluated with a focus on the Western Lake Erie Basin, The generator captured precipitation extremes relatively well but was generally not as effective with temperature extremes. It, however, captured fall and winter one-day maximum temperatures and seasonal values of one-day minimum temperatures fairly well.

Weather generator CLIGEN’s performance in estimating precipitation using an updated database and the subsequent impact on urban runoff simulations were evaluated with a focus on the U.S. Great Lakes Region. With the updated database, CLIGEN provided suitable precipitation estimates for use with modeling urban runoff or urbanization effects.

Arkansas (Kovacs)

One published paper on the WTP producers have for surface water.

California (Dinar)

Developed a dynamic model, which compares among several alternative policy interventions for modification of subsidized energy: The Case of Groundwater Pumping for Irrigation. Conducted a field experiment with farmers in Mexico.

Published 2 papers in technical journals with former PhD student (Edgar Tellez-Foster) and a colleague team member researcher (Amnon Rapoport). Presented in national and international meetings.

Rosa et al. (2018) have developed a framework to quantify the amount of irrigation water that might be transferred to the energy sector to perform hydraulic fracturing and to analyze the impact of these transfers on the food security of local populations. Given the increasing global interest in unconventional oil and gas, our framework aims to provide an analysis of the hydrologic implications of shale oil and gas extraction to better inform governments, energy corporations, farmers, local communities, and other stakeholders about the water and food security risks associated with the development of shale deposits in different regions of the world.

Colorado (Suter, Goemans & Kroll)

Worked with researchers at the University of Delaware, Johns Hopkins and Albany State University to develop and initiate a groundwater use reporting program.

US Forest Service (Warziniack)

USFS Region 4 (Intermountain West) recently completed its climate adaptation plan, with publications now in print. It was a project with the US Forest Service and several universities (e.g., Utah State, Washington State, Colorado State). The project covered a wide range of climate change impacts; relevant for this group is the chapter on ecosystem services and impacts of drought.

Kansas (Hendricks and Sampson)

Published an article titled Optimal Groundwater Management under Climate Change and Technical Progress. This article examines how economically optimal groundwater extraction differs when accounting for climate change and technological progress over time.

A working paper titled, Peer Effects in the Diffusion of Water Saving Agricultural Technologies was completed during the reporting period and is being revised for resubmission to a peer reviewed economic journal. The paper was also presented at an academic meeting. This paper estimates how peer interactions among growers affects the adoption of a certain type of water and energy saving irrigation technology.

Missouri (McCann)

Submitted work on hydro-economic model of the Salton Sea, which highlights a leasing scheme to transfer water from ag to environmental use.

North Carolina (Edwards)

Utah Agricultural Experiment Station Extension Water Initiative Grant. Conserving Utah’s Water via Markets: Alternatives for Sustaining Agriculture, Urban Growth, and the Environment. Co-PI, $33,988, July 2018-December 2019.

Edwards, E.C. and Sutherland, S.A. A Guide to Municipal Water Conservation Pricing in Utah. USU Extension Factsheet. Forthcoming. Result of: Utah Agricultural Experiment Station Extension Water Initiative Grant. The Potential for Water Conservation through Rate Changes: Economic Analysis and Implementation. Co-PI, $19,451, July 2017-June 2018.

Wyoming (Hansen)

Under the direction of W3190 members Hansen (UW) and Peck (USDA-ARS), a graduate student completed her M.S. thesis on the farm-level economic impacts of alternative groundwater management strategies in southeastern Wyoming (Ogallala Aquifer). The student is currently presenting her results to irrigators, conservation district staff, and SEO representatives in the region.

Hansen (UW) and colleagues are developing a regional hydro-economic model to examine the community-level impacts of developing alternative groundwater management strategies in southeastern Wyoming (Ogallala Aquifer). Collaborators include local irrigators, conservation district staff, and SEO representatives in the region.

Rhode Island (Guilfoos)

Evaluated chemical storage policies related to water pollution in West Virginia. Found significant health effects from Elk River spill in West Virginia relating to chemical storage laws, or lack thereof.

Louisiana (Paudel)

We identify the way to manage water and soil salinity using several different management practices.  An input-output analysis method is used to understand the impact of water and soil salinity on  crop yield, and  regional and state economic impact.

Idaho (Taylor and Maas)

We have recently begun collaborating with Northwest Farm Credit Service and the RMA to evaluate the relationship between insurance (multi-peril crop, total revenue, etc.), water use, and crop choice.  This is an emerging issue since the Surface-Ground water agreement in southern Idaho was signed, requiring groundwater users to curtail 13% of total use.

Objective 3: Evaluate and compare alternative water policy and management institutions.

Nebraska (Schoengold)

Schoengold and colleague (Mieno) evaluated the impact of varying water allocations on groundwater extraction. Results show that irrigators reduce extraction as a response to an allocation policy, and that the impact depends on climate conditions.

Schoengold and colleague (Brozovic) published an article in a special edition of the Western Economic Forum that evaluates policy changes and lessons learned from groundwater management in the High Plains Aquifer.

Washington (Yoder)

Yoder, Jonathan. 2017. Economics of Adaptation:  The role of incentives, markets, and governance in climate change adaptation.  Invited Lecture to the Washington State Academy of Sciences. Seattle, WA. September 13.

Yoder, Jonathan.  2017. Economic Assessment of Integrated Water Resource Management. The Yakima Basin Integrated Plan. October 18. Invited Lecture, Oregon State University, Corvallis.

Arkansas (Kovacs)

Three conference papers on the influence of social learning on irrigation investments.

California (Dinar)

Understanding the policy and institutions that enhance reuse of treated wastewater for irrigation in a regional context.

Completed a working theoretical paper (with Ami Reznik and Francesc Hernandez-Sancho now under consideration in a technical journal. Obtained a grant from Giannini Foundation for an empirical application to California. Funds a post doc (Ami Reznik) and a graduate student (Logan Purvis).

Published work on political economy of water reform in the Jucar Basin in Spain (with Encarna Esteban and others).

Obtained with colleagues (Encarna Esteban and Jose Albiac) funds to extend the political economy work to the Ebro Basin in Spain.

Colorado (Suter, Goemans & Kroll)

Worked with researchers at CSU, U. of Nebraska, Kansas State U., and West Texas A&M to develop an integrated hydro-economic model to assess alternative groundwater management.

Initiated research with Dale Manning, Chris Goemans, and Mani Rouhi Rad at CSU that explores temporal and spatial spillovers from a groundwater retirement program in Kansas.

Submitted manuscript with Dale Manning, Chris Goemans, and Aaron Hrozencik at CSU on information and preferences related to groundwater management in CO's Republican River Basin.

Initiated UNC faculty/student research to directly serve the needs of a Colorado-based payments for water-based ecosystem services program; joined the Steering Committee for this stakeholder.

Initiated UNC faculty/student research to directly address needs of a collaborative, adaptive management program serving multiple stakeholder needs in Platte River Basin of WY/CO/NE.

Developed & implemented new undergraduate/graduate UNC course involving applied research in support of innovative approaches and programs for watershed management and water policy.

Kansas (Hendricks and Sampson)

Published an article titled Adaptation to an Irrigation Water Restriction Imposed through Local Governance. This article estimates how farmers adapted to a water restriction imposed on groundwater extraction in Kansas.

Collaborated with Mieno and Shoengold to analyze how water restrictions impact water use of those who are just outside the policy boundary.

Michigan (Asher, Ghane, & Nejadhashemi)

Nejadhashemi: A group of students and a postdoctoral associate introduced a new measure that can be used to improve sustainability by reducing agricultural impacts on water, energy, and environment while maximizing the farm profit and productions.

Ghane: Organized a drainage monitoring workshop to educate Michigan residents on how to conduct simple and high-tech monitoring. The purpose of this workshop was to help residents properly investigate ways to improve drainage water quality. A workshop and field day was hosted on July 19th, 2018.

An undergraduate student, Megan Beaver, worked on setting up the edge-of-field research project to analyze the effectiveness of drainage conservation practices in reducing agricultural nonpoint-source pollution. A poster was presented at the 2018 Mid-Michigan Symposium for Undergraduate Research Experience on July 25th, 2015.

Ghane used data from a drainage conservation practice called denitrification bed to help improve agricultural drainage water. An article was published titled Carbon quality of four-year-old woodchips in a denitrification bed treating agricultural drainage water, Transactions of ASABE, vol 6, pp. 995-1000.

Asher: Constructed a two-stage wetland treatment cell to monitor agricultural subsurface drainage and treat nonpoint source pollution. A presentation was given by Asher, Jeremiah. January 2018. In ditch wetland to treat tile drain nutrients. Michigan Agri-Business Association Winter Conference. Lansing, MI.

A graduate student, Alaina Nunn worked with farmers to take discrete grab samples from tile drainage to learn about what level of nutrients are leaving the fields and inform farmers of this loss.

The following presentations were given by Nunn, Alaina. March 2, 2018. The Impact of Subsurface Water Quality Data On Farmer Attitudes, Knowledge, and Behavior Towards Conservation: A Case Study in the River Raisin Watershed. Michigan Chapter Soil and Water Conservation Society Seminar. East Lansing, MI.

Nunn, Alaina. June 18-22, 2018. A Journey through Networks: An Assessment of Who Influences On-farm Conservation Decisions. International Association for Great Lakes Research. Toronto, Canada

Nunn, Alaina. April 2-4, 2017. Farmer Engagement in Conservation through Tile Drain Water Quality Monitoring in Southeastern Michigan. International Conference on Environmental Sustainability, Development & Protection. Barcelona, Spain.

Minnesota (Peterson and Levers)

Performed a cost benefit analysis for lead in drinking water for the MN Dept. of Health to inform lead policy.

Developed a dynamic framework to compare innovation to regulatory strategies as policy tools for environmental protection

Analyzing scenarios to increase water quality by removing row crops from areas close to waterways and replacing them with perennial grasses and solar panels for a grant with the Science Museum of Minnesota.

Wyoming (Hansen)

Hansen is analyzing the ecological and economic trade-offs associated with programs encouraging voluntary water conservation practices on irrigated rangelands that would allow Wyoming to meet its obligations to downstream states under the Colorado River Compact. Collaborators include Trout Unlimited, The Nature Conservancy, conservation districts and ranchers in the area.

Idaho (Taylor and Maas)

Water has transformed Idaho’s economy and people. Idaho agriculture is built upon irrigation, hydropower energizes the state, and Idaho’s largest cities are in deserts.

Virgina (Cobourn)

Wade, C.M., K.M. Cobourn, G.S. Amacher, and E. Hester. 2018. Groundwater pumping decisions and land subsidence in the southern Chesapeake Bay region of Virginia,Water Resources Research, doi: 10.1029/2017WR022133.

Elbakidze, L., H.D. Vinson, K.M. Cobourn, G.Taylor. 2018. Efficient water allocation and binding hydrologic externalities,Resource and Energy Economics 53: 147-161.

Cobourn, K.M., C.C. Carey, K.J. Boyle, C. Duffy, H.A. Dugan, K.J. Farrell, L. Fitchett, P.C. Hanson, J.A. Hart, V.R. Henson, A.L. Hetherington, A.R. Kemanian, L.G. Rudstam, L. Shu, P.A. Soranno, M.G. Sorice, J. Stachelek, N.K. Ward, K.C. Weathers, W. Weng, and Y. Zhang. 2018. From concept to practice to policy: modeling coupled natural and human systems in lake catchments,Ecosphere 9(5)

Chance, E.W., K.M. Cobourn, and V.A. Thomas. 2018. Trend detection for the extent of irrigated agriculture in Idaho™s Snake River Plain, 1984-2016, Remote Sensing, 10(1): 145.

Ji, X., and K.M. Cobourn. 2018. The economic benefits of irrigation districts under prior appropriation doctrine: an econometric analysis of agricultural land-allocation decisions,Canadian Journal of Agricultural Economics, doi:10.1111/cjag.12165.

Chance, E.W., K.M. Cobourn, V.A. Thomas, B. Dawson, and A.N. Flores. 2017. Normalized Difference Moisture Index method for identifying irrigated areas in the Snake River Plain, Idaho, Remote Sensing, 9(7): 546.

Washington (Yoder)

Yoder, Jonathan. 2018. Fiscal Gridlock over the water budget in Washington State: The politics and economics of pouring exempt wells into the Prior Appropriations bucket}. Western Economics Forum 16(1):30-37.

Yoder, Jonathan, Jennifer Adam, Michael Brady, Joseph Cook, Stephen Katz, Shane Johnston, Keyvan Malek, John McMillan, & Qingqing Yang. 2017. Benefit-Cost Analysis of Integrated Water Resource Management: Accounting for interdependence in the Yakima Basin Integrated Plan. Journal of the American Water Resources Association 53(2):456-477. DOI: 10.1111/1752-1688.12507. 

Indiana (Gitau)

Guo, T., S. Mehan, M. Gitau, Q. Wang, T. Kuczek, and D. Flanagan. 2017. Impact of number of realizations on the suitability of simulated weather data for hydrologic and environmental applications. Stochastic Environmental Research and Risk Assessment. DOI 10.1007/s00477-017-1498-5.

Gitau, M.W., S. Mehan, and T. Guo. 2018. Weather Generator Effectiveness in Capturing Climate Extremes. Environmental Processes. 10.1007/s40710-018-0291-x.

Chen, J., M.W. Gitau, B.A. Engel, and D.C. Flanagan. 2018. Suitability of CLIGEN precipitation estimates based on an updated database and their impacts on urban runoff. Hydrological Sciences Journal. https://doi.org/10.1080/02626667.2018.1513655.

Arkansas (Kovacs)

Knapp, T., K. Kovacs, Q. Huang, C. Henry, R. Nayga, J. Popp, B. Dixon. 2018. Willingness to pay for irrigation water when groundwater is scarce. Agricultural Water Management, 195: 133-141.

Kovacs, K., A. Durand-Morat. 2017. The influence of on- and off-farm surface water investment on groundwater extraction from an agricultural landscape. Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics, 49(3): 323-346.

Huang, Q., Y. Xu, K. Kovacs, G. West. 2017. Analysis of factors that influence the use of irrigation technologies and water management practices in Arkansas. Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics, 49(2): 159-185.

Kovacs, K., G. West, Y. Xu. 2017. The use of efficiency frontiers to evaluate the optimal land cover and irrigation practices for economic returns and ecosystem services. Journal of Hydrology, 547: 474-488.

California (Dinar)

Tellez-Foster, E. A. Dinar, and A. Rapoport, Comparing Alternative Policies for Modification of Energy Subsidies: The Case of Groundwater Pumping for Irrigation, Journal of Hydrology (Accepted for Publication, August 28, 2018).

Esteban, E., A. Dinar, J. Albiac, A. Calera, M. García Mollá, L. Avellá, Interest Groups Perceptions on Water Policy Reforms: Insight from a Water Stressed Basin, Water Policy (Accepted for Publication April 18, 2018), 20:794–810.

Tellez-Foster E., A. Rapoport, and A. Dinar, Alternative Policies to Manage Electricity Subsidies for Groundwater Extraction: A Field Study in Mexico, Journal of Behavioral Economics for Policy (Accepted for Publication October 1, 2017).

Reznik, A., A. Dinar, and F. Hernandez-Sancho, An Economic Examination of Wastewater Recycling Role in Solving the Growing Scarcity of Natural Water Resources. UCR SPP Working Paper Series, June, 2018 WP# 03-18. http://spp.ucr.edu/publications/economic_examination_wastewater.pdf.)

Rosa, L and P. D’Odorico (2019), The water-energy-food nexus of unconventional oil and gas extraction in the Vaca Muerta Play, Argentina, J. Cleaner Production, 207:743-750. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.10.039.

D’Odorico, P. (2018), The challenges of meeting future food, energy, and water needs, Eos, 99, https://doi.org/10.1029/2018EO098891.

Seekell, D.A., P. D'Odorico, and G.K. MacDonald, Food, trade, and the environment, Environm. Res. Lett., 13(10),100201.

Rosa., L., M.C. Rulli, K.F. Davis, D. Chiarelli, C. Passera, P. D'Odorico, 2018. Closing the yield gap while ensuring water sustainability, Environm. Res. Lett., 13 104002.

Dell'Angelo, J., P. D'Odorico, and M.C. Rulli, 2018. The neglected costs of water peace, WIREs Water, ;5:e1316. https://doi.org/10.1002/wat2.1316.

D’Odorico, P., K.F. Davis, L. Rosa, J.A. Carr, D. Chiarelli, J. Dell’Angelo, J.A. Gephart, G.K. MacDonald, D.A. Seekell, S Suweis, M.C. Rulli, The global food-energy-water nexus, Reviews of Geophysics, 56, 456–531, https://doi.org/10.1029/2017RG000591

Rosa, L., K.F. Davis, M.C. Rulli, and P. D’Odorico, 2018. The water-energy nexus of hydraulic fracturing: a global hydrologic analysis for shale oil and gas extraction, Earth’s Future, 6,  https://doi.org/10.1002/2018EF000809.

Chiarelli, D., L. Rosa, M.C. Rulli, and P. D’Odorico, 2018. The water-food nexus of natural rubber production, J. Clearner Production, 172, 1739-1747.

Dell’Angelo, J., P. D’Odorico, and M.C. Rulli, 2018. The Global Water Grab Syndrome, Ecological Economics, 143, 276-285.

Davis, K.F., M.C. Rulli, A. Seveso, and P. D’Odorico, 2017. Increase in food production and reduction in water use through optimized crop distribution, Nature Geosciences, doi.org/10.1038/s41561-017-0004-5.

Colorado(Suter, Goemans & Kroll)

Palm-Forster, L.H., J.F. Suter, K.D. Messer. Forthcoming. Experimental evidence on policy approaches that link agricultural subsidies to water quality outcomes. American Journal of Agricultural Economics.

Lauer M., M. Sanderson, D.T. Manning, J.F. Suter, A. Hrozencik, B. Guerrero, B. Golden. 2018. Values and groundwater management in the Ogallala Aquifer region. Journal of Soil and Water Conservation 73(5): 593-600.

Monger, R., J.F. Suter, D.T. Manning, J.P. Schneekloth. 2018. Retiring Land to Save Water: Participation in Colorado’s Republican River Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program. Land Economics 94(1): 36-51.

Guerrero, B., B. Golden, K. Schoengold, J.F. Suter, A. Stoecker, C. Goemans, and D. Manning. 2017. Groundwater Laws Across the Ogallala Aquifer Region. Colorado Water, Nov/Dec: 12-15.

Ronayne, M., T. Sale, J.F. Suter, and D. Shugert. 2017. Evaluating the Energy Cost of Groundwater Production in the Denver Basin Aquifers. Colorado Water, Sep/Oct: 12-15.

Stone, Janine, Marco Costanigro, and Christopher Goemans. Public Opinion on Colorado Water Rights Transfers: Are Policy Preferences Consistent with Concerns over Impacts?. Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics 43.3 (2018): 403-422.

Hrozencik, R. A., et al. 2018. The heterogeneous impacts of groundwater management policies in the Republican River Basin of Colorado. Water Resources Research 53.12: 10757-10778.

Burkhardt, J., M. Flyr, C. Goemans, L. Hans, A. Neel., A. Maas. Forthcoming. Modelling Commercial Demand for Water: Exploring alternative prices, instrumental variables, and heterogeneity. Land Economics

Kroll, Stephan and Aric Shafran. 2018. Spatial Externalities in Interdependent Security Games, Journal of Risk and Uncertainty 56/3, 237-257.

Eiswerth, M.E., C. Lawley, and M.H. Taylor. 2018. Economics of Invasive Species. In: Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Environmental Economics. Edited by J.R. Kahn, D. Biller, and J. Whitehead. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

Eiswerth, M.E., and G.C van Kooten. 2017. Maximizing Returns from Payments for Ecosystem Services: Incorporating Externality Effects of Land Management. Resource Economics and Policy Analysis Research Group Working Paper 2017-06, Department of Economics, University of Victoria.

US Forest Service (Warziniack)

Implications for US Trade and Nonindigenous Species Risk Resulting from Increased Economic Integration of the Asia-Pacific Region. AM Countryman, T Warziniack, E Grey - Society & Natural Resources, 2018

Binder, Seth, Robert G. Haight, Stephen Polasky, Travis Warziniack, Miranda H. Mockrin, Robert L. Deal, and Greg Arthaud. Assessment and valuation of forest ecosystem services: State of the science review. Gen. Tech. Rep. NRS-170. Newtown Square, PA: US Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Northern Research Station. 47 p. 170 (2017): 1-47.

Warziniack, Travis, Megan Lawson, and S. Karen Dante-Wood. Effects of climate change on ecosystem services in the Northern Rockies. In Climate Change and Rocky Mountain Ecosystems, pp. 189-208. Springer, Cham, 2018.

Holmes, Thomas P., James Vose, Travis Warziniack, and Bill Holman. Forest Ecosystem services: Water resources. General Technical Report SRS-226. Asheville, NC: US Department of Agriculture Forest Service, Southern Research Station. 226 (2017): 31-48.

Warziniack, Travis, Chi Ho Sham, Robert Morgan, and Yasha Feferholtz. Effect of forest cover on water treatment costs. Water Economics and Policy 3, no. 04 (2017): 1750006.

Halofsky, Jessica E., Travis W. Warziniack, David L. Peterson, and Joanne J. Ho. Understanding and managing the effects of climate change on ecosystem services in the Rocky Mountains. Mountain Research and Development 37, no. 3 (2017): 340-352.

Kansas (Hendricks and Sampson)

Drysdale, K.M. and N.P. Hendricks. 2018. Adaptation to an Irrigation Water Restriction Imposed through Local Governance. Journal of Environmental Economics and Management 91: 150-165.

Hendricks, N.P. 2018. Potential Benefits from Innovations to Reduce Heat and Water Stress in Agriculture. Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists 5(3): 545-576.

Quintana-Ashwell, N.E., J.M. Peterson, and N.P. Hendricks. 2018. Optimal Groundwater Management under Climate Change and Technical Progress. Resource and Energy Economics 51: 67-83.

Michigan (Asher, Ghane, & Nejadhashemi)

Rojas-Downing, M.M., A. P. Nejadhashemi, K. A. Cassida, Daneshvar, J.S. Hernandez-Suarez, M. Abouali, S.A. Al Masraf, M. R. Herman, T. Harrigan, Food Footprint as a Measure of Sustainability for Grazing Dairy Farms, Environmental Management, DOI: 10.1007/s00267-018-1101-y.

Ghane, Ehsan. Carbon quality of four-year-old woodchips in a denitrification bed treating agricultural drainage water, Transactions of ASABE, vol 6, pp. 995-1000.

Minnesota (Peterson and Levers)

Levers, L., Skaggs, T., & Schwabe, K. (2018) Buying Water for the Environment: A Hydro-Economic Analysis of Salton Sea Inflows. Agricultural Water Management.  Accepted with revisions.

Peterson, J.M. and A.E. Saak. (2018) Spatial Externalities In Aquifers With Varying Thickness: Theory And Numerical Results For The Ogallala Aquifer. Journal of Natural Resources Policy Research. In press.

Quintana Ashwell, N.E., J.M. Peterson, and N. P. Hendricks. (2018) Optimal Groundwater Management under Climate Change and Technical Progress. Resource and Energy Economics 51 (February 2018): 67-83. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.reseneeco.2017.10.005.

Symonik, D., Levers, L., & Calow, P. (2018) Lead and Minnesota’s Drinking Water: Assessment of Eliminating Lead in Minnesota Drinking Water. Submitted. 

North Carolina (Edwards)

Edwards, E.C. and Null, S.E. The Cost of Addressing Saline Lake Decline and the Potential for Water Conservation Markets. Forthcoming February 2019 in Science of the Total Environment.

Edwards, E., Cristi, O., Edwards, G., & Libecap, G. 2018. An illiquid market in the desert: Estimating the cost of water trade restrictions in northern Chile. Forthcoming February, 2019 in Environment and Development Economics. doi:10.1017/S1355770X18000220

Edwards, E.C. and Smith, S.M. The Role of Irrigation in the Development of Agriculture in the United States. Forthcoming December 2018 in Journal of Economic History.

Ayres, A.B., Edwards, E.C. and Libecap, G.D. 2018. How Transaction Costs Obstruct Collective Action: Evidence from California's Groundwater. Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, vol. 91, Pages 46-65.

Wyoming (Hansen)

Khadem, M, C. Rougé, J.J. Harou, K.M. Hansen, J. Medellin-Azuara and J.R. Lund (forthcoming). Estimating the economic value of inter-annual reservoir storage in water resource systems. Water Resources Research. 10.1029/2017WR022336

Hansen, K., E. Duke, C. Bond, M. Purcell and G. Paige. 2018. Landowner Preferences for a Payment-for-Ecosystem Services Program in Southwestern Wyoming. Ecological Economics 146: 240-9.

Rhode Island (Guilfoos)

Brozyna, C., Guilfoos, T., & Atlas, S. (2018). Slow and deliberate cooperation in the commons. Nature Sustainability, 1(4), 184.

Guilfoos, T., Kell, D., Boslett, A., & Hill, E. L. (2017). The Economic and Health Effects of the 2014 Chemical Spill in the Elk River, West Virginia. American Journal of Agricultural Economics, 100(2), 609-624.

Louisiana (Paudel)

Bijay Pokhrel, Krishna P. Paudel, and Eduardo Segarra. 2018. Factors affecting the choice, intensity, and allocation of irrigation technologies by U.S. cotton farmers. Water, 10(6), 706; https://doi.org/10.3390/w10060706 (MDPI journal impact factor 1.832)

Idaho (Taylor and Maas)

Burkhardt, J., M. Flyr, C. Goemans, L. Hans, A. Neel., A. Maas. Forthcoming. Modelling Commercial Demand for Water: Exploring alternative prices, instrumental variables, and heterogeneity. Land Economics.

Grigg, Neil. Theresa Connor, Alexander Maas. 2018. Financing Integration of Urban Water Systems: From Service Provision to Resource Management. Public Works Management & Policy, 2: 186-98.

Johnson, D. M., John R. McKean, and R. Garth Taylor. Comparing a Hierarchical-Decision Travel Cost Recreation Demand Model to the Traditional Model and Implications for Survey Design. Journal of Leisure Science Forthcoming.

Levan Elbakidze; Hannah Vinson; Kelly Cobourn; R. Garth Taylor. 2018 Efficient Groundwater Allocation and Binding Hydrologic Externalities Environmental and Resource Economics 53(1) 147-161.

Elbakidze, L.  Brett Schiller, and R. Garth Taylor. 2017. Estimation of Short and Long Run Derived Irrigation Water Demands and Elasticities. Water Economics and Policy 03(01) p175. 

Elbakidze, Levan, Fa’anunu, Benjamin, Mamula, Aaron, Taylor, R. Garth, 2017. Evaluating Economic Efficiency of a Water Buyback Program: The Klamath Irrigation Project. Journal of Energy and Resource Economics Vol. 48(2), p68–82. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.reseneeco.2017.02.001

Utah (Cardon)

Because Grant Cardon has not been the official representative to this committee for the past 4 years, his activities on the project have not been those reported for the state of Utah, therefore, the following publications are being included here so they can be entered into the record of work for this committee:

Amakor, Xystus N., Astrid R. Jacobson and Grant E. Cardon.  2013. Improving Estimates of Soil Salinity from Saturation Paste Extracts in Calcareous Soils.  Soil Science Society of America Journal 77(3): 792-799 doi:10.2136/sssaj2012.0235

Amakor, Xystus N., Grant E. Cardon, Jargen Symanzik and Astrid R. Jacobson.  2013. A New Electromagnetic Induction Calibration Model for Estimating Low Range Salinity in Calcareous Soils.  Soil Science Society of America Journal 77(3):985-1000 doi:10.2136/sssaj2012.0320

Amakor, Xystus N., Astrid R. Jacobson, Grant E. Cardon, and Austin Hawks. 2014. A Comparison of Salinity Measurement Methods based on Soil Saturated Pastes. Geoderma. Volumes 219220, May 2014, Pages 32-39, ISSN 0016-7061

Cardon, Grant, Brent Black and Sean Rowley.  2013.  Year-To-Year Integration Of Yield Response To Fertilizer Application In Tree Fruits.  Nutrient Digest: Nutrient Management Newsletter for the Western US.  5(4):1-3.

Rowley, S., G.E. Cardon and B. Black.  2013. Macronutrient management for Utah Orchards. USU Extension Publication Horticulture/Fruit/2013-02pr.

Black, Brent, Grant Cardon, and Robert Hill.  2016.  Orchard Irrigation.  Chapter 10 In: Intermountain Tree Fruit Production Guide. Marion Murray, Harold Larsen and Tony McCammon (eds). Joint publication of Utah State University, Colorado State University and University of Idaho.