U.S. Department of EnergyOffice of Scientific and Technical Information
Supporting Information - How Can Crop Production Adapt to growing groundwater restrictions in the West?
Abstract
Abstract This data plan outlines the structure and content of datasets generated and utilized in the research presented in the manuscript abstract. Groundwater overdraft has led to serious water supply issues in the US West. Most western states manage groundwater use through a permitting system, but California has only recently begun to restrict groundwater use statewide with the 2014 passage of groundwater restrictions which target the elimination of groundwater overdraft practices by 2042. With groundwater extraction curtailed, crop production in the US West (a $95 billion industry annually) will be affected, and appropriate response strategies will be needed to ensure minimal disruption to food production and the regional economy. In this paper, we explore the adoption of alternative adaptive responses: (a) deficit irrigation; (b) switching to less water-intensive crops; (c) changing the extent of irrigated land (including fallowing); and (d) geographically shifting crop production. Employing an integrated modeling approach, we explicitly capture the interactions and feedbacks between local hydrology, changes in crop yields, crop and land use decision-making, changes in crop prices, and regional shifts in crop production. We find that the optimal adaptive response is spatially heterogeneous and comprises a portfolio of strategies. Southwestern states and California will bemore »
- Authors:
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- Pennsylvania State University
- Consultant
- University of New Hampshire
- University of New Hampshire Earth Systems Research Center
- Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
- Penn State Agricultural Economics, Sociology, and Education
- Publication Date:
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC05-76RL01830
- Research Org.:
- Pacific Northwest National Lab (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER)
- Subject:
- DNDCe; DREM; Economics; GCAM; Land; WBM; groundwater
- OSTI Identifier:
- 2999592
- DOI:
- https://doi.org/10.57931/2999592
Citation Formats
Femeena, Pandara Valappil, Daenzer, Kathryn, Frolking, Steve, Grogan, Danielle, Nucciarone, Jeffrey, Calvin, Kate, Lammers, Richard, and Fisher-Vanden, Karen. Supporting Information - How Can Crop Production Adapt to growing groundwater restrictions in the West?. United States: N. p., 2025.
Web. doi:10.57931/2999592.
Femeena, Pandara Valappil, Daenzer, Kathryn, Frolking, Steve, Grogan, Danielle, Nucciarone, Jeffrey, Calvin, Kate, Lammers, Richard, & Fisher-Vanden, Karen. Supporting Information - How Can Crop Production Adapt to growing groundwater restrictions in the West?. United States. doi:https://doi.org/10.57931/2999592
Femeena, Pandara Valappil, Daenzer, Kathryn, Frolking, Steve, Grogan, Danielle, Nucciarone, Jeffrey, Calvin, Kate, Lammers, Richard, and Fisher-Vanden, Karen. 2025.
"Supporting Information - How Can Crop Production Adapt to growing groundwater restrictions in the West?". United States. doi:https://doi.org/10.57931/2999592. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/2999592. Pub date:Fri Oct 24 04:00:00 UTC 2025
@article{osti_2999592,
title = {Supporting Information - How Can Crop Production Adapt to growing groundwater restrictions in the West?},
author = {Femeena, Pandara Valappil and Daenzer, Kathryn and Frolking, Steve and Grogan, Danielle and Nucciarone, Jeffrey and Calvin, Kate and Lammers, Richard and Fisher-Vanden, Karen},
abstractNote = {Abstract This data plan outlines the structure and content of datasets generated and utilized in the research presented in the manuscript abstract. Groundwater overdraft has led to serious water supply issues in the US West. Most western states manage groundwater use through a permitting system, but California has only recently begun to restrict groundwater use statewide with the 2014 passage of groundwater restrictions which target the elimination of groundwater overdraft practices by 2042. With groundwater extraction curtailed, crop production in the US West (a $95 billion industry annually) will be affected, and appropriate response strategies will be needed to ensure minimal disruption to food production and the regional economy. In this paper, we explore the adoption of alternative adaptive responses: (a) deficit irrigation; (b) switching to less water-intensive crops; (c) changing the extent of irrigated land (including fallowing); and (d) geographically shifting crop production. Employing an integrated modeling approach, we explicitly capture the interactions and feedbacks between local hydrology, changes in crop yields, crop and land use decision-making, changes in crop prices, and regional shifts in crop production. We find that the optimal adaptive response is spatially heterogeneous and comprises a portfolio of strategies. Southwestern states and California will be the most impacted by groundwater restrictions. The optimal responses in these states are to both adopt deficit irrigation strategies and reduce a portion of their irrigated croplands, resulting in a shift in crop production to northwestern states with a larger supply of water. The datasets detailed in this repository represent the output from these integrated models, specifically designed to support the analysis and visualization presented in the manuscript and supplemental information. These datasets, used in conjunction with the scripts available at our associated GitHub repository (https://github.com/pches/Femeena_etal_How_can_crop_production_adapt), enable the reproduction of figures and facilitate a comprehensive understanding of the optimal adaptive strategies in agriculture for mitigating water stress under varying groundwater extraction scenarios, as outlined in the abstract.},
doi = {10.57931/2999592},
journal = {},
number = ,
volume = ,
place = {United States},
year = {Fri Oct 24 04:00:00 UTC 2025},
month = {Fri Oct 24 04:00:00 UTC 2025}
}