This paper describes calibration methods for models of agricultural production and water use in which economic variables can directly interact with hydrologic network models or other biophysical system models. We also describe and demonstrate the use of systematic calibration checks at different stages for efficient debugging of models. The central model is the California Statewide Agricultural...

In the past decade, extreme and exceptional droughts have significantly impacted many economic sectors in the US, especially in California, Oklahoma, and Texas. The record drought of 2011–2014 affected almost 90% of Texas areas and 95% of Oklahoma state areas. In 2011 alone, around $1.6 billion in agricultural production were lost as a result of drought in Oklahoma, and $7.6 billion in Texas. T...

The Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region (NX region) of Northwestern China is threatened by increased meteorological drought induced by climate change (CC) and constraints on water supply from the Yellow River. Thus, the NX region is representative of attempts to adapt to CC and variability in China’s arid regions. Field visits, a questionnaire and in situ inspections were conducted in 2012–2014 to un...

Drought is one of the most challenging agricultural issues limiting sustainable sugarcane production and, in some cases, yield losses caused by drought are nearly 50%. DREB proteins play vital regulatory roles in abiotic stress responses in plants. The transcription factor DREB2A interacts with a cis-acting DRE sequence to activate the expression of downstream genes that are involved in drought...

Drought and salt are major abiotic stresses that adversely affect crop productivity. Thus, identification of factors that confer resistance to these stresses would pave way to increasing agricultural productivity. When grown on soil in green house longer than 5 weeks, transgenic Arabidopsis plants that overexpress an ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporter, AtABCG36/AtPDR8, produced higher shoot...