A Texas farmer is turning wine into water – well sort of.
As The High Plains Journal reports, Steve Newsom of Levelland, Texas recently began growing wine grapes because they are very efficient users of water.
“I get scowled at, but we see ourselves converting irrigated cotton acres to dryland and convert some of that water saved to drip irrigation and still have the same amount of acres in production,” he said.
Levelland has been adapting his farming practices to what is economically viable to his farm, yet environmentally sustainable through a diversified mix of not only wine grapes and cotton, but also peanuts, corn, alfalfa and apple orchards.
Newsom said diversifying crop rotations has helped ease water use, which in turn ensures the sustainability of his top crop, which is cotton. And the conservation practices he’s employed have given his cotton crop a marketing boost because he is able to assure cotton buyers of the crop’s sustainability.