County-level agricultural water productivity assessment

Knowledge graph centered on County-level agricultural water productivity assessment with 6 nodes and 10 connections. Top connected: Agricultural Water Footprints and Productivity in , Pinus strobus, Pinus monticola, Dari Duval, George B. Frisvold.

Method synopsis

A comprehensive method for calculating multiple water productivity measures at the county scale using crop marketing revenues, production costs, and consumptive water use data to assess economic returns per unit of irrigation water consumed.

Synthesized from method descriptions across 1 paper using this protocol.

Procedure as described in the canonical source

Steps below were extracted from the paper that introduces this protocol — Agricultural Water Footprints and Productivity in the Colorado River Basin (2023), Hydrology. Implementations in other papers (listed below) may differ.

1. Identify study counties
   Selected 18 Colorado River Basin counties across seven states, excluding counties with less than 90% irrigated acreage in the Rio Grande Basin, counties dominated by dryland farming, and counties lacking irrigation data
   Quantities: 18 counties selected from Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and WyomingDuration: Not specifiedConditions: Counties must have sufficient irrigated agriculture and available data
   Equipment: Geographic analysis tools
2. Obtain crop marketing data
   County-level data for crop revenues for 2015 obtained from the US Department of Commerce, Bureau of Economic Analysis Regional Economic Accounts
   Quantities: Data for all selected counties for year 2015Duration: Annual data collectionConditions: 2015 data used to match USGS irrigation survey timing
   Equipment: BEA database access
3. Obtain water consumption data
   County-level consumptive use of water for irrigation from USGS 2015 national survey, with consumptive use defined as water originally withdrawn from a source that is subsequently removed from availability owing to evaporation, transpiration, or incorporation into crops
   Quantities: County-level water consumption in acre-feet for 2015Duration: Five-year reporting cycle by USGSConditions: 2015 survey data, most recent available
   Equipment: USGS Water-use data access
4. Calculate Economic Water Productivity gross returns
   Computed EWPg = CM/W where CM = county crop marketings in USD and W = county consumptive use of water for irrigation in acre-feet
   Quantities: Calculated for each of the 18 countiesDuration: Single calculation per countyConditions: Using 2015 data
   Equipment: Statistical software
5. Calculate Economic Water Productivity net returns
   Computed EWPn = (CM - S - F - AgC - L)/W where additional terms represent costs of seed, fertilizers and agricultural chemicals, and labor
   Quantities: Net returns calculated for each county with available cost dataDuration: Single calculation per countyConditions: Cost data availability varies by county
   Equipment: Statistical software
6. Calculate Blue Water Footprint
   Computed BWF = 1/EWPg = W/CM, expressing water consumed per thousand dollars of crop revenue produced
   Quantities: BWF calculated for all counties with EWPg dataDuration: Single calculation per countyConditions: Based on gross returns measure
   Equipment: Statistical software
7. Calculate cash rent premiums
   Computed Pa = RCi - max[RCn, RPn] where RCi = cash rental rate for irrigated cropland, RCn = cash rental rate for non-irrigated cropland, and RPn = cash rental rate for non-irrigated pastureland
   Quantities: Premiums calculated per acre and per acre-foot of waterDuration: Using 2016 cash rent data as closest match to 2015 irrigation dataConditions: Cash rent data from USDA Cash Rents Survey
   Equipment: USDA survey data access

Typical Equipment

• BEA database access
• USGS Water-use data access
• USDA survey data access
• Statistical software

Output Measurements

• economic water productivity (gross returns)
• economic water productivity (net returns)
• blue water footprint
• cash rent premiums

Papers Using This Protocol (1)

Species Studied With This Protocol

Places Where Used