Economic Analysis of Irrigation Scheduling Method on Cotton Production in Georgia and North Carolina

The southeastern United States has been historically a water sufficient area, with enough surface and groundwater resources to meet demand. However, the expansion of irrigated crop area coupled with new demand due to economic and population growth has put increasing pressure on the water resources of the region. In Georgia, cotton is the largest row crop in terms of value of production and planted acres. Even though Cotton is a relatively drought-tolerant crop, an increasing amount of irrigation is applied to cotton production with the goal of improving productivity. Various studies have demonstrated that irrigation can improve cotton yield. However, limited analysis is available to investigate the economic benefit and cost of irrigation on cotton production.

A study was conducted in 2016 and 2017 to compare cotton yield and quality in dryland and irrigated plots in Georgia and North Carolina. The checkbook irrigation method, developed at the University of Georgia, schedules irrigation according to the cotton water requirement during the growing season. It is serves as a guideline for farmers to determine when and how much to irrigate to keep the crop in a well-watered state.

Economic profitability is analyzed by considering the cost of irrigation, cotton yield and quality, harvesting and ginning cost, and the prices for cotton lint and seed. Results indicated that irrigation was able to improve cotton yield and lint quality. The improvement in cotton yield and quality by using irrigation shows a higher economic return above variable cost of irrigation. However, when considering the fixed cost related to irrigation, irrigated land shows lower economic profitability compared to dryland production.