Texas A&M AgriLife Research scientists are developing a modeling tool that could give farmers and ranchers a glimpse into the future for planning purposes.

ECO-HAWQS, an integrated decision support system (IDSS), is a tool that farmers can use to forecast potential cropping conditions and economic results.

It will use existing technology, data collection tools and data, including weather, market prices, farm production costs and revenues, water conservation practices and water movement through watersheds to project scenario-based outcomes for producer operations based on possible fluctuations within those factors.

“It would be an incredibly powerful tool for farmers and agricultural operations to have in their toolbox,” Dr. Raghavan Srinivasan, Texas A&M University professor and the researcher leading the project, said. “This tool won’t tell us the future, but it will give us the range of potential outcomes based on factors like continuing drought or changes in input costs or commodity market conditions. The goal is to help farmers consider economic, environmental and production challenges together in one place.”

Texas A&M researchers are working alongside a water resource engineering expert from Oregon State University on the modeling tool.

They are collaborating with small and medium-sized farms in Texas’ Lower Rio Grande Valley and Oregon’s Umatilla River Basin. Acreage, cropping options and rotations and conservation practices are among the factors researchers are using to set parameters for the new application to provide decision support in “real world” conditions.

“We’re in the early stages of the project, but we all understand the value a tool like this represents for growers, especially smaller operations, to capitalize on opportunities and avoid major setbacks,” Dr. Jean-Claude Bizimana, Texas A&M University professor and a member of the research team, said.

Texas A&M AgriLife received over $750,000 in grant funding for the project from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture.