Water scarcity threatens sustainable agriculture in California. During the last decade alone, historically severe droughts have led to the current unprecedented water shortages. Under projected changes in climate, droughts of greater severity and duration will exacerbate this situation.

 

California produces 80% of the world’s almonds, which require consistent water supplies for irrigation. In response to these challenges, almond growers and organizations are considering a myriad of management strategies to save water and mitigate climate change.

 

The Tree-crop Remote sensing of Evapotranspiration eXperiment (T-REX) aims to identify water and orchard management opportunities to maximize water use efficiency and carbon sequestration in almonds and other woody perennial tree crops. The project combines satellite, remotely piloted aerial systems, and proximal sensing technologies to retrieve key variables used to model surface fluxes and biophysical properties with the purpose of advancing our understanding of management strategies on water-carbon relationships in tree-perennial agroecosystems.

 

A 10% decrease in almond orchard irrigation across the state equates to the annual residential water use of 2.2 million average California households. From a carbon perspective, almond orchards could sequester ~8% of the state’s current greenhouse gas emissions by transitioning toward climate-smart practices. As such, the almond industry is uniquely positioned to both curb water-use and help to mitigate climate change while continuing to economically sustain family growers and agricultural workers.