Helping West Texas thrive by conducting innovative research to ensure the continued availability of high-quality water, soil, and food.
The Texas A&M AgriLife Research Center at El Paso strives to address problems arising from El Paso’s unique geography. The city is situated on the U.S.-Mexico border and is home to 950,000 people — 96 percent of the population of Far West Texas. Across the Rio Grande is the neighboring Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, with a population of 1.3 million. The region’s frequent droughts and rapidly growing population underscore an urgent need for sufficient, reliable, safe, and cost-efficient water, soil, and food supplies. Focusing on the most pressing needs of Far West Texas, the Texas A&M AgriLife Research Center at El Paso is home to internationally recognized research programs in controlled environment agriculture, the development of profitable drought and salt-tolerant crops, freshwater conservation, groundwater and surface water management, hydrological system dynamics and resilience, natural resource economics and policy, public health nutrition, and salinity management.
Arid Hydrology and Water Systems
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The Arid Hydrology and Water Systems research program focuses on hydrology in arid regions, and transboundary water resources planning and management.
Public Health Nutrition
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The Public Health Nutrition program studies healthy eating behavior, food access, and the relationship between dietary intake and health.
Water Resources and Salinity Management
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The Water Resources and Salinity Management research program specializes in salinity assessment and management, beneficial use of waters with elevated salinity such as industrial wastewater, gray-water, reclaimed water, brackish groundwater, and on-farm water conservation.