Estimating the Profitability of Growing Irrigated Cotton in Kansas

This study examines the value of water for cotton production from two perspectives. One by a formal study of cotton producers in Kansas that asks about irrigation cotton production and the amount of irrigation water applied. Two, by a regression analysis of all cotton production in Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas that examines how rainfall variation in each month across time affects non-irrigation yields. For both of these analyses, yields and water are compared to the baseline yields and water that would result in a “typical” year. Baselines of yields and rainfall in both parts are established from NASS yield data and PRISM weather data.