When agricultural researchers in the Southwest look into the
future, one issue stays near the top of the list as a major
priority. No matter what happens in any other ag-related area,
all roads lead back to this one fact. Without this one resource,
farming doesn’t exist. And nowhere has this become a bigger
issue than in the Southwest part of the Cotton Belt where
droughts have become a way of life through the years. In
Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico and Arizona, this has always been a
major topic of discussion dating back to the Dust Bowl days of
the 1920s and 1930s. Nobody is seriously comparing today’s
environment to what moviegoers saw in that famous 1940 movie,
“Grapes of Wrath,” which starred Henry Fonda. However, when
drought and new water restrictions become part of the
conversation, it’s only natural for producers to become
concerned. Even though water issues can be found in all parts of
the Cotton Belt, they seem to receive additional attention in
the Southwest where more than half of the country’s cot