Texas Tech Davis College of Agricultural Sciences & Natural Resources researchers have been awarded continued funding aimed at improving the sustainability of agricultural industries and rural communities through innovative scientific research and technology transfer.
The research is being conducted as a part of the Ogallala Aquifer Program, a USDA Agricultural Research Service-led, multi-university collaboration seeking solutions to decreasing groundwater availability from the Ogallala Aquifer in Western Kansas and on the Texas High Plains.
“The focus of the Davis College research is to conduct long-term studies for irrigated cotton production in thermo-limited regions of the northern Texas Panhandle and Southwest Kansas,” said Davis College Associate Dean for Research Noureddine Abidi.
Among the Davis College funded projects under the 2025 Ogallala Aquifer Program are
- Haydee Laza | Assistant Professor Plant Physiology | Department of Plant & Soil Science. An expert in plant physiology, Laza received funding to organize a symposium during November’s Crop Science Society of America meeting in San Antonio entitled, ‘Crop Science Integrating Emerging Areas in Physiology with Genomics, Breeding, and Technology/AI’
- Donna MitchellMcCallister | Assistant Professor | Department of Agricultural & Applied Economics & Glen Ritchie | Chair and Professor of Crop Physiology | Department of Plant & Soil Science. They are part of a team working on ‘Collaborative Research on Cotton Production in Thermo-limited Regions of the High Plains’
- Wenxuan Guo |Associate Professor of Crop Ecophysiology & Precision Agriculture | Department of Plant & Soil Science with Texas A&M AgriLife Research joint appointment. He is part of a team working on ‘Smart Forage Sorghum: Precision Sensing for Optimized Irrigation Water Management’
- Darren Hudson | Associate Dean for Strategic Initiatives & Assessment and Larry Combest Endowed Chair for Agricultural Competitiveness | Department of Agricultural & Applied Economics. He is part of a team looking at ‘Identifying Climate-Resilient Alternative Field and Forage Crops for the Southern Great Plains’
Donna Mitchell McCallister | Assistant Professor | Department of Agricultural & Applied Economics. She is part of a team working on ‘Analysis of The Economic Implications of Alternative Water Conservation Strategies to Conserve Water in the Southern Ogallala Aquifer Region’
The Ogallala Aquifer is the largest underground water reservoir in the United States, covering 174,000 square miles in Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, South Dakota, Wyoming, Colorado and New Mexico. A major water source for regional agricultural, municipal and industrial development, the Ogallala is being depleted as withdrawals exceed recharge.
With the high rate of depletion of the Ogallala Aquifer, particularly in Texas and Kansas, the OAP’s focus is to improve the sustainability of agricultural industries and rural communities through innovative scientific research and technology transfer.
Participants in the program include Texas Tech, as well as the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service, Kansas State University, Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service, and West Texas A&M University.
CONTACT: Noureddine Abidi, Associate Dean for Research, Davis College of Agricultural Sciences & Natural Resources, Texas Tech University at (806) 742-2808 or noureddine.abidi@ttu.edu
1022NM24 / PHOTO: (left to right) Haydee Laza, Donna Mitchell McCallister, Glen Ritchie, Wenxuan Guo and Darren Hudson