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Texas Panhandle Essay

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Farming in the Texas Panhandle is a lifestyle. Corn is one of the largest produced crops in the world and in the panhandle. It is a lot of families’ lively hood. These families grow many crops, but corn seems to be one of the most popular. In order to grow corn, they need water, but with the recent drought, these families have been struggling to find alternative methods to produce high yields. Everything from simply just changing their crop to something that needs less water to scientist engineering new breeds of said crop so that it can flourish with less water. In this paper I will cover some of these methods and hopefully give an insight to what these farmers are dealing with on a daily basis. In the Texas Panhandle corn is the major crop …show more content…

Genetically modified crops have become increasingly popular in the last few decades. Despite the fact that they are a controversial topic: we see GMOs as a growing technology that if regulated and tested will have great benefits when it comes to conserving water. One of the ways they are modifying genes is to make the plant more drought tolerant and take less water to germinate. In addition, to produce a better yield while practicing dry land farming and controlled irrigation water conservation. There are studies trying to modify the plants so that they can increase the rate of photosynthesis and depth of root structure. Scientists are also trying to decrease the rate of water loss through transpiration. “Corn, the crop with the highest global production, annually sustains losses on the order of 15 percent of potential yield attributable to drought. As the climate changes as a consequence of global warming, some climates will become more arid, increasing drought and resulting in up to 10 million more lost tons of maize per year. It has been estimated that 25 percent of these losses may be resolved by genetically modifying maize to be more drought tolerant.” (Clive.

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