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From east to west, Texas A&M AgriLife water professionals serve all Texans

More Information

• agrilife.tamu.edu
• amarillo.tamu.edu
• beaumont.tamu.edu
• blackland.tamu.edu
• ccag.tamu.edu
• dallas.tamu.edu
• elpaso.tamu.edu
• lubbock.tamu.edu
• overton.tamu.edu
• sanangelo.tamu.edu
• stephenville.tamu.edu
• uvalde.tamu.edu
• vernon.tamu.edu
• weslaco.tamu.edu

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Texas A&M AgriLife Research and the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service are two sides of the same coin. For more than 100 years, AgriLife Research and AgriLife Extension have improved lives in communities across Texas by delivering innovative science-based solutions and education at the intersection of health, agriculture and the environment.

From irrigation technology advancement and urban conservation to drought-tolerant crops and water-efficient turfgrasses, AgriLife Research scientists help solve water-related issues every day locally and regionally.

AgriLife Research teams and labs partner with local, state and federal agencies to move new research advances to consumer-accessible solutions as quickly as possible. They help protect rivers, streams, lakes, bays, oceans and aquifers.

In tandem with AgriLife Research’s work, AgriLife Extension professionals connect agricultural producers and all Texans to research-backed solutions through educational programming on water conservation, water management, irrigation and water quality.

These research and extension teams have made it their mission to learn, test and share knowledge about agriculture and the life sciences to nourish health, strengthen communities, protect natural resources and support economies.

Centers help AgriLife serve the entire state

There are 13 Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Centers located throughout the state. Together, the centers support a statewide network of researchers, extension agents, educators, specialists, volunteers and county officials. In addition, AgriLife Extension serves every Texas county, with offices in 250 out of 254 counties in Texas. 

AgriLife researchers dedicate their careers to solving the unique agriculture and natural resources challenges facing each region. AgriLife Research and Extension also support communities when disasters strike.

Local AgriLife teams are built from the very communities they serve. This grassroots structure means Texans anywhere in the state can contact a Texas A&M AgriLife expert who is intimately familiar with emerging needs and solutions specific to their locality. 

This vast network of professionals stands ready to serve all Texans right where they are, adapting to meet the needs of the citizens and the land.

  

Texas A&M AgriLife water programs at centers across Texas  

  

  

Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center at Amarillo

In Amarillo, water programs focus on irrigation water management and water-limited forage production. 

With declining groundwater availability from the Ogallala Aquifer, researchers at Amarillo emphasize best practices for reliable crop production in dry climates using limited irrigation or rain-fed conditions.  

In the Panhandle, scientists evaluate cropping system contributions to the carbon, water, and ecological footprints of regionally adapted agricultural systems. They also evaluate the region’s potential for high-value specialty crops, where limited irrigation water can be focused on smaller acreages that preserve or increase farm profitability.

Amarillo’s Cropping Systems for Semi-Arid Climates research program includes water-related goals such as: advancing the water-use efficiency of irrigated crops, advancing the sustainability of dryland and rain-fed crops, evaluating strategies to improve soil health under agricultural production, advancing the profitability of forage crops for regional beef and dairy production, and expanding the applicability of controlled-environment agriculture.

  

Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center at Lubbock

For more than 100 years, the center at Lubbock and its satellite research stations have addressed key issues for Southern High Plains producers. Today the center’s scientists focus on crop production, plant breeding, and water-use practices.

Researchers at Lubbock work with other Texas A&M AgriLife units and federal, state, and international collaborators to conduct research in sensor and digital imaging-based data for specific crop variety-soil-water interactions.

They are optimizing the use of water in crop production, evaluating regenerative agriculture, studying produced water uses for agricultural production and evaluating water-conserving irrigation systems. Lubbock scientists are working to develop or improve irrigation software tools, and they are also using combinations of soil, plant, UAV, and environmental-based sensors for the development of irrigation management tools for specific crop varieties and hybrids, soil health and water management.

Lubbock scientists work to meet the regional need of improving water use efficiency for sustainable crop production and rural economic development. They are developing high-yielding and disease-resistant corn, cotton, grain sorghum, and peanut germplasm that are also drought, heat and salt-tolerant. They anticipate regional producers’ need for science-based guidance on transitioning farmland from irrigated to rainfed row-crop agricultural production.

  

Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center at Vernon 

In Vernon, researchers develop and evaluate climate-resilient, regenerative agricultural strategies for conserving soil and water. They aim to enhance crop water productivity and protect soil and water quality in diverse agroecosystems. Scientists use hydrologic, ecosystem, and crop growth models and data analysis approaches to achieve their research goals. 

Major focus areas in crop and rangeland settings include:

• assessing hydrologic and environmental impacts of changes in land use and management;
• improving crop water use efficiency and development of irrigation decision support tools;
• assessing climate change impacts on crop production and evaluation of adaptation strategies;
• improving soil health and enhancing ecosystem services; and
• characterization of groundwater quantity and quality.

The Environmental Soil Science Program at Vernon contributes expansive and diverse research experience evaluating the impact of climate-smart agricultural approaches on soil improvement, water quality, carbon sequestration, greenhouse gas emissions and overall soil and environmental health. 

The goal of the Environmental Soil Science Program is to cultivate best management practices that improve overall soil health and function. This creates a resilient agricultural production system that protects water resources while maintaining agronomic and economic viability under changing climatic conditions.

  

Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center at Dallas

More than 80 percent of Texas’ residents live in urban environments. The Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center at Dallas, located in the heart of the Dallas–Fort Worth Metroplex, focuses on increasing the sustainability of urban living through its internationally recognized research and outreach initiatives. 

The center’s programs address the preservation and wise use of critical resources through the development of urban food production through controlled environment systems or controlled environment agriculture (CEA), water-efficient turfgrasses, technologies for low-impact development, stormwater management, water conservation, and healthy human living.

The turfgrass breeding team continues to develop new cultivars aimed at increasing water use efficiency and heat tolerance. The center’s water and land resource team leads the nation in developing water use management strategies, increasing sustainability and ensuring water availability for the next generation of Texans.

  

  

Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center at Overton

In Overton, research focuses on Forage-Based Beef Cattle Production Systems and Horticultural Production.

Researchers conduct their work on agricultural topics pertinent to the East Texas ecosystem. 

The center at Overton includes an AgriLife Extension Pond Management Program to provide educational programming and address questions, comments, and concerns from communities managing ponds, fish, pond plants and anything else pond- or lake-related.

  

Texas A&M AgriLife Research Center at El Paso

The Texas Water Resources Institute and scientists of the center at El Paso study transboundary aquifers alongside water institutes in New Mexico, the U.S. Geological Survey and the International Boundary and Water Commission. El Paso also shares aquifers with New Mexico across the state line and is planning to transfer groundwater from other basins in Far West Texas. Such complex configurations of shared water resources create opportunities for scientific research, technical innovation, and institutional reform.  

El Paso is a rapidly growing city of 900,000, the 5th largest in Texas. Located in the Chihuahuan Desert, the region receives an average of 8 inches of precipitation each year.

Just across the border is Ciudad Juarez, with a population of 1.4 million, making it one of the largest border cities in the world. Water is the most important resource needed to sustain the region's economy, population, quality of life and environment. Tremendous and justified concern surrounds the availability, quality, allocation, and cost of local water resources. Both cities rely upon the same two aquifers for water. 

Scientists at El Paso lead research in integrated water resources management; water and soil salinity management; watershed hydrology; river operations and aquifer development; district delivery and irrigation efficiency; water value, pricing and water-use efficacy; reclaimed water use; urban landscape water conservation; and public health nutrition.

The Far West Region is unique in climate, water resources, demographics and institutional jurisdictions, and it shares many issues that will challenge other regions of Texas and the world in the future. 

  

Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center at San Angelo

In the West Central Region, Texas A&M AgriLife Research’s mission is to develop ranching solutions. To accomplish this mission, scientists develop technologies to improve the efficiency of livestock and wildlife production and the ecological condition of rangelands. Research takes place at the center in San Angelo and its satellite stations near Sonora, Ozona, Menard and Carlsbad.

The center at San Angelo leads West Central Texas producers through innovative research and technology transfer to optimize regionally specific agricultural practices, enhance natural resources, and improve environmental, economic, and social networks. Research at San Angelo will continue to improve native rangeland health, understand and mitigate climate change, sustain agricultural productivity, and enhance wildlife habitats. Rangeland research programs focus on long-term rangeland health, environmental impact, and sustaining agricultural production within energy production sites like solar and wind farms.

The research staff’s responsibility is to develop new technology and strategies to improve the management of range livestock, wildlife and the native range itself. Research under the scope of the center at San Angelo takes place at the Sonora Research Station in Sutton and Edwards counties, the Read Ranch in Crockett County, and the Carl & Bina-Sue Martin Research Ranch in Menard County. Researchers collaborate with Angelo State University and with landowners on area ranches.

  

Texas A&M AgriLife Blackland Research and Extension Center at Temple and
Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center at Stephenville 

Local watersheds have been impacted by microbes and nutrients used intensively in agricultural production. Texas A&M AgriLife scientists respond by developing sustainable production systems to decrease contaminants or eliminate agricultural inputs of nitrogen, phosphorus, microbes and pharmaceutical products in local rivers and streams. Researchers are also developing new methods for microbial detection to identify and quantify microbial pathogens in waterways rapidly, potentially saving time and expense for regulatory agencies that monitor biological pollutants.

Scientists at the Blackland center at Temple are improving the region’s water and soil quality with research and new technologies that enable improved decision-making regarding land and water management.

Agricultural, municipal, industrial, and private users all compete for limited water resources in the region. As populations grow and water sources shrink, addressing how water resources are developed and protected exerts dramatic environmental and economic consequences. Detrimental effects must be minimized through efficiency and innovation to provide both water quality and quantity for future generations. The Water Science Laboratory (WSL) at Temple develops and applies new technologies to improve water management systems. 

The center at Temple shares research facilities with the Grassland, Soil and Water Research Laboratory (GSWRL) of the United States Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS). AgriLife Research and ARS scientists have worked cooperatively in Temple for over 80 years. Regional research programs also include scientists from the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), who are co-located at GSWRL with ARS.

In Stephenville, center researchers are studying best practices for restoring native grassland plant species, cultivating dual-purpose forage and growing bioenergy crops. Experts also study dairy industry production and environmental impacts extensively, as well as organic fruit and vegetable production.

The Riesel Research Center in the Riesel Watershed in the Texas Blackland Prairie has provided valuable information to the water resource community for more than 70 years, making it the longest continuously monitored hydrologic research site in the country. Research programs include hydrologic systems computer modeling and water quality monitoring.

  

  

Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center at Beaumont

In Beaumont, scientists’ goal is to develop and implement production and management approaches and innovations that enhance rice production’s economic, environmental, and social sustainability at a local, national and international level. They’re ultimately working to improve national and international food security. 

The center at Beaumont works to quantify the impact of water and fertility management practices in rice, study climate-smart rice production, and evaluate alternative wetting and drying (AWD) irrigation practices. 

  

Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center at Uvalde

This area of South Texas is also known as the Wintergarden due to a mild climate that allows year-round agricultural production.

Characterized by a historically stable and diverse agricultural economy dominated by irrigated high-value specialty crops, rotational systems with field and vegetable crops, and ranching and wildlife enterprises, the research goals at Uvalde encompass important water-related elements. Projects at Uvalde focus on developing and testing emerging technologies for environmental pathogen detection and improving soil productivity and quality with optimized irrigation volume and timing. 

Uvalde scientists are optimizing water use in crop production by quantifying root water uptake of current cotton varieties and updating cotton crop coefficients for the Wintergarden Region. They are also working to determine seasonal water use of sesame cultivars in southwest Texas, and researchers are utilizing high-throughput data from the ground-based sensing system to characterize drought tolerance in cotton, wheat, corn, and sorghum genotypes. Monitoring soil water status in onions, another research team is improving water-use efficiency and reducing root disease.

  

Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center at Corpus Christi

The vision of AgriLife Research at the center at Corpus Christi is to excel in the creation of novel technologies in plant and animal agriculture, aquaculture and natural resources to benefit stakeholders in the Coastal Bend region of Texas and beyond. Corpus Christi researchers are achieving their goals using advanced technology, such as remote sensing tools, to characterize crop performance and grasslands as affected by biotic and abiotic stresses.

They employ data-driven tools for precision crop management systems using remote sensing data. This includes both unmanned aerial systems, or drones, and satellites, digital twins, and artificial intelligence; state-of-the-art tools for genotyping and phenotyping species relevant to Texas aquaculture; satellite-based in-season prescription management systems; and assessing crop health using remote sensing images.

  

Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center at Weslaco 

Weslaco researchers work to develop improved plants, plant products, and production systems that enable sustainable use of limited resources to optimize productivity and enhance the health, economic well-being, and quality of life of constituents throughout the Lower Rio Grande Valley.

Research projects include the development of irrigation management and fertigation tools; studies using limited water supplies, saline, and wastewater to sustain crop productivity; combining crop simulation models and remote sensing tools to improve management strategies using saline water, wastewater, and deficit irrigation strategies; and evaluating the use of satellites and UAS applications to select best management practices in different cropping systems. 

For almost 20 years, the Arroyo Colorado Watershed Partnership has improved water quality in the South Region. An innovative gathering of federal, state, and private organizations, the partnership works to improve watershed health and integrate watershed management in the Arroyo Colorado Watershed.

Their goals include the interrelated issues of water quantity (supply), water excess (flooding and drainage), habitat, and water quality, particularly concerning runoff pollution.