Awards issued prior to january 20, 2025, were funded under previous administrations and may not reflect the priorities and policies of the current administration.** this project supports the mission…

Awards issued prior to january 20, 2025, were funded under previous administrations and may not reflect the priorities and policies of the current administration.** this project supports the mission of the agricultural experiment station by addressing the hatch act area(S) of: soil and water conservation and use; sustainable agriculture. The overall goal of this project is to ensure food and nutritional security of the united states (US) by sustaining irrigated agriculture in the southwest US under changing climate, while addressing the CO-benefits for the environment and human health. Major southwestern aquifer systems including the central valley aquifer of california, central arizona alluvial aquifer and the lower RIO grande basin in new mexico are experiencing unprecedented overdraft as growers increasingly depend on groundwater because of climate change induced multi-year droughts and heat stress. This interdisciplinary project aims to alleviate groundwater overdraft and sustain irrigated agriculture in the southwest US by developing climate change adaptation management strategies; integrated modeling, data, and decision support tools for assessing the sustainability of groundwater and irrigated agriculture; and socioeconomics tools for groundwater governance. We will also develop innovative education programs and novel extension programming to support sustainable groundwater and irrigated agricultural systems. This integrated multidisciplinary project is complex with linkages between its different components including system drivers (climate change, regulations, markets), models (geophysical, hydrology, biophysical, socioeconomics), climate change adaptation management strategies (managed aquifer recharge, soil health, desalination of brackish groundwater, water pricing), and system analysis decision support tools. Three interconnected research objectives and corresponding activities are fully integrated with education and extension objectives. By developing management practices that address groundwater sustainability, climate change adaptation management strategies, education and extension programs, this study will have a major impact on food and nutritional security of the US.