Groundwater economics: An object‐oriented foundation for integrated studies of irrigated agricultural systems

Abstract

[1] An integrated foundation is presented to study the impacts of external forcings on irrigated agricultural systems. Individually, models are presented that simulate groundwater hydrogeology and econometric farm level crop choices and irrigated water use. The natural association between groundwater wells and agricultural parcels is employed to couple these models using geographic information science technology and open modeling interface protocols. This approach is used to study the collective action problem of the common pool. Three different policies (existing, regulation, and incentive based) are studied in the semiarid grasslands overlying the Ogallala Aquifer in the central United States. Results show that while regulation using the prior appropriation doctrine and incentives using a water buy-back program may each achieve the same level of water savings across the study region, each policy has a different impact on spatial patterns of groundwater declines and farm level economic activity. This represents the first time that groundwater and econometric models of irrigated agriculture have been integrated at the well-parcel level and provides methods for scientific investigation of this coupled natural-human system. Results are useful for science to inform decision making and public policy debate.

Tapping unsustainable groundwater stores for agricultural production in the High Plains Aquifer of Kansas, projections to 2110

“…One issue in such studies involves the temporal changes in water level during pumping (levels commonly drop in wells by tens of meters during seasonal pumping schedules). This problem is dealt with by screening data to use water level measurements only when wells have recovered from the drawdown associated with irrigation; in this study, we use only measurements taken in December and January because irrigation typically ends in late summer and early spring preirrigation of fields has not yet begun (16). Another issue is related to an ever-changing set of observation wells over time (some wells were measured decades ago whereas others just in recent years).…”

“…The region is experiencing the worldwide tragedy of the commons, with aquifer depletion from a common pool resource used to support irrigated agriculture (16), and is one of four "critical areas" for "annual renewable water" in the western hemisphere and one of 22 worldwide (17). Irrigation began in the late 1800s and intensified through the 1980s (18,19).…”

Calibration of a crop model to irrigated water use using a genetic algorithm

“…Because policy analysis will ultimately entail large amounts of computing power (Steward et al, 2009a), it is desirable to understand the relationship between sample size and estimation outcomes. Thus, a ca.…”

“…Thus, all stakeholders share a common need for integrated, science-based, quantitative informational tools that, collectively, target their differing individual responsibilities. Toward this end, researchers at Kansas State University, in conjunction with stakeholder groups, have begun to integrate economic, agronomic, and hydrologic models, supported by geodatabases, to aid in these diverse decision making processes (Steward et al, , 2009aSteward and Bernard, 2006a,b;Bernard et al, 2004Yang et al, 2009).…”

Accessible integration of agriculture, groundwater, and economic models using the Open Modeling Interface (OpenMI): methodology and initial results

“…These data are not well suited to the available techniques for calibrating optimization models (e.g., Howitt, 1995). The modeling framework is described by Hendricks (2007) and Steward et al (2009). Irrigators are assumed to choose the crop on each field that maximizes expected income i.e., expected crop revenue less production costs.…”