About

Dana Porter is a Professor, Extension Program Leader, and Associate Department Head in the Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering at Texas A&M University. He holds a B.S. in Agricultural Engineering from Texas A&M University, earned in 1987, a M.S. in Agricultural Engineering from Texas A&M University, earned in 1989, and a Ph.D. in Agricultural and Biological Engineering from Mississippi State University, earned in 1993. His areas of expertise include agricultural water management, agricultural irrigation, salinity management, agricultural waste management, and water quality. Porter is actively involved in research and extension activities related to these fields, contributing to advancements in sustainable agricultural practices and water resource management.

Research topics

• Environmental science
• Computer Science
• Agronomy
• Geotechnical engineering
• Finance
• Environmental planning
• Engineering
• Operations management
• Environmental resource management
• Biology
• Geology
• Agricultural engineering
• Water resource management
• Business

Selected publications

• Precision Irrigation Management

  2025-11-04 · 1 citations

  reportOpen access

  Water scarcity, climate variability, and increasing competition for water resources pose significant challenges to global food production. Irrigation remains a critical tool for stabilizing and enhancing agricultural productivity, particularly in arid and semi-arid regions, but must be managed more efficiently to meet future food demands with limited water supplies. Precision irrigation integrates site-specific water application, advanced sensing technologies, decision support systems, and automation to apply the right amount of water at the right time and place. This report examines the principles, technologies, and applications of precision irrigation across gravity, sprinkler, and microirrigation systems. It reviews variable rate irrigation, soil- and plant-based sensing, evapotranspiration monitoring, irrigation scheduling tools, and complementary technologies such as fertigation and data-driven decision support systems. The report also evaluates the agronomic, environmental, and economic benefits of precision irrigation, as well as current adoption levels and barriers to wider implementation. By synthesizing recent research and practical experiences, this report highlights how precision irrigation can improve water productivity, enhance crop performance, and increase resilience to climate change. It concludes with an assessment of future research, extension, and education needs required to accelerate adoption and maximize the benefits of precision irrigation in modern agriculture.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Field Evaluation of Conventional and Downhole TDR Soil Water Sensors for Irrigation Scheduling in a Clay Loam Soil

  Applied Engineering in Agriculture · 2023-01-01 · 10 citations

  articleOpen access

  Highlights Soil profile water content derived from Acclima TDR-315™ sensors approximated those from NMM measurements. Soil profile water content from Campbell Scientific SoilVUE™10 sensors grossly underestimated those from the NMM. VWC values from SoilVUE10 sensors were consistently less than those reported by the TDR-315 sensors at all depths. These findings do not support SoilVUE10 use for irrigation scheduling in clay loam soils. Abstract. A field study was performed to evaluate the efficacy of two commercially available time domain reflectometry (TDR) soil water sensors for irrigation scheduling in a clay loam soil near Bushland, Texas. SoilVUE10 (Campbell Scientific Inc., Logan, Utah) and TDR-315 (Acclima Inc., Meridian, Idaho) sensors were installed within 30 cm of neutron moisture meter (NMM) access tubes in a research field planted to corn (Zea mays L) in 2020 and irrigated by a center pivot sprinkler system. Irrigation treatments included 50%, 75%, and 100% of evapotranspiration (ET) replacement with two access tubes installed in each plot, totaling six sensor evaluation sites. Semiweekly measurements with a field-calibrated NMM were used to monitor soil water status and schedule irrigation throughout the growing season. Soil profile water content values integrated over the surface to 1.1-m depth range were derived from SoilVUE10 and vertically distributed arrays of Acclima TDR-315 sensors installed at equivalent depths and were compared with those from NMM data. Average profile soil water contents from the TDR-315 sensors trended well with those from the NMM having mean bias difference (MBD) values of -9.8, -3.1, and 8.4 mm for the 50%, 75%, and 100% treatments, respectively. In contrast, soil profile water content values from the SoilVUE10 sensors grossly underestimated those from the NMM for all irrigation treatments with MBD values of -54.4, -70.5, and -89.8 mm for the 50%, 75%, and 100% treatments, respectively. Comparisons of volumetric water content (VWC) at each of the nine depths common to both electromagnetic sensor types revealed that values from the SoilVUE10 sensors were consistently less than TDR-315 values for all irrigation treatments. Underestimation at the near surface (5 and 10 cm depths) was attributed to loss of soil to electrode contact possibly associated with clay shrinkage during periodic drying following irrigation. Although soil to electrode contact can be problematic at greater depths, the explanation for chronic underestimation of VWC was less obvious except to note that underestimation occurred immediately after installation, which indicated poor electrode-soil contact after installation despite use of manufacturer guidelines and tools. Other possible reasons include challenges for accurate estimation of soil permittivity for a measured permittivity that includes the plastic sensor body. Results from this study suggest vertically distributed arrays of TDR-315 sensors can provide profile water content values adequate for monitoring soil water status for irrigation scheduling in a clay loam soil. The chronic underestimation observed for the SoilVUE10 sensors does not support their use for water resources research and irrigation management and could lead to over irrigation. Additionally, the relatively short 1 m length is less than the rooting depth of many regional crops and thus not capable of determining percolation below the root zone. Keywords: Acclima TDR-315, Campbell Scientific SoilVUE, Irrigation scheduling, Neutron moisture meter, Semi-arid, Soil water sensors, Time domain reflectometry, Volumetric water content.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Impacts of Ongoing Land-Use Change on Watershed Hydrology and Crop Production Using an Improved SWAT Model

  Land · 2023-03-01 · 8 citations

  articleOpen access

  The southern Ogallala Aquifer continues to deplete due to decades of irrigation with minimal recharge. Recently enacted regulations limiting groundwater withdrawals and the potential for farm profitability with cotton production systems indicate driving forces for increased cotton production acreage in the Northern High Plains of Texas (NHPT). This study focused on evaluating the land-use change from corn or winter wheat to cotton under irrigation and dryland conditions in the Palo Duro watershed (PDW) in the NHPT using an improved Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model. Land-use change from irrigated corn to irrigated cotton led to reductions in average (2000–2014) annual irrigation, actual evapotranspiration (ETa), and surface runoff by 21%, 7%, and 63%, respectively. Nevertheless, the replacement of irrigated wheat with irrigated cotton caused irrigation and ETa to increase by 46% and 18%, respectively. Land-use conversion from dryland wheat to dryland cotton showed 0.1% and 15% decreases in ETa and surface runoff, respectively. More than 40% reductions in simulated cotton yields were found when the cotton planting area was moving northward to the cooler NHPT. The ongoing change in land use provided an option to lengthen the water availability of the southern Ogallala Aquifer for irrigation.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Moving from measurement to governance of shared groundwater resources

  Nature Water · 2023 · 43 citations

  • Business
  • Water resource management
  • Environmental science
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Double Deep Q-Learning Based Irrigation and Chemigation Control

  2022 23rd International Symposium on Quality Electronic Design (ISQED) · 2022-04-06 · 2 citations

  article

  As crop production has become more mechanized and complex, and as sensors and data have become more accessible, limitations of production managers to effectively use the data and the need for automated integration of information into useful management decisions with automated controls have become more apparent. In this article, a double deep Q-learning technique based module for irrigation and chemigation control is proposed and evaluated. This module is designed to maximize net return at harvest by automatically managing the irrigation and chemigation scheduling processes during the crop growing season. Using this approach, the proposed module can automatically select the optimal or near-optimal irrigation and chemigation amount and application schedule. The proposed module is evaluated on various crops, climate conditions, and soil types. The results show that the proposed module can achieve an average of 50% higher net return compared to traditional strategies.

  PublisherDOI

• Modeling climate change impacts on blue, green, and grey water footprints and crop yields in the Texas High Plains, USA

  Agricultural and Forest Meteorology · 2021-09-21 · 32 citations

  article
  PublisherDOI

• Irrigation management with saline water

  Digital Collections of Colorado (Colorado State University) · 2020-04-29 · 5 citations

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  Presented at the 2006 Central Plains irrigation conference on February 21-22 in Colby, Kansas.

  Publisher

• Spatio-Temporal Analysis of Historical and Future Climate Data in the Texas High Plains

  Sustainability · 2020-07-27 · 5 citations

  articleOpen access

  Agricultural production in the Texas High Plains (THP) relies heavily on irrigation and is susceptible to drought due to the declining availability of groundwater and climate change. Therefore, it is meaningful to perform an overview of possible climate change scenarios to provide appropriate strategies for climate change adaptation in the THP. In this study, spatio-temporal variations of climate data were mapped in the THP during 2000–2009, 2050–2059, and 2090–2099 periods using 14 research-grade meteorological stations and 19 bias-corrected General Circulation Models (GCMs) under representative concentration pathway (RCP) scenarios RCP 4.5 and 8.5. Results indicated different bias correction methods were needed for different climatic parameters and study purposes. For example, using high-quality data from the meteorological stations, the linear scaling method was selected to alter the projected precipitation while air temperatures were bias corrected using the quantile mapping method. At the end of the 21st century (2090–2099) under the severe CO2 emission scenario (RCP 8.5), the maximum and minimum air temperatures could increase from 3.9 to 10.0 °C and 2.8 to 8.4 °C across the entire THP, respectively, while precipitation could decrease by ~7.5% relative to the historical (2000–2009) observed data. However, large uncertainties were found according to 19 GCM projections.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• The Impact and Value of Accurate Evapotranspiration Networks in Texas High Plains Production Agriculture

  Applied Engineering in Agriculture · 2020-01-01 · 8 citations

  article

  Highlights Irrigation scheduling using accurate ET network data can conserve energy and water. ET networks can be a valuable, cost effective, and feasible management tool in water policy. The Texas High Plains ET Network saved irrigated producers an estimated $US 22M dollars annually. ET network benefits and use extend beyond the agricultural sector. Abstract . Evapotranspiration (ET) networks have been developed and used to support weather and related ET information needs of U.S. agricultural production for nearly half a century, but many networks have been affected by inherent problems associated with sustaining operations. Consequently, these challenges have led to the discontinuation of network service in many cases. Most ET networks have been impacted by inadequate financial support compounded by inadequate public awareness and understanding of their usefulness and value in irrigation management, water conservation and water planning, and policy activities. Data accuracy is vital to usefulness, yet network data quality is often degraded when limited resources result in reduced equipment maintenance and data QA/QC. A discussion of ET network requirements and associated costs is presented. Estimates of the value and pumping reduction using the Texas High Plains ET networks are presented documenting the improvements of crop water use estimates and the impact associated with these improvements on irrigation groundwater withdrawal. Keywords: ET network, Evapotranspiration network, Irrigation scheduling, Irrigation value, Water management tools, Water savings.

  PublisherDOI

• Simulating the effects of agricultural production practices on water conservation and crop yields using an improved SWAT model in the Texas High Plains, USA

  Agricultural Water Management · 2020 · 33 citations

  • Environmental science
  • Agronomy
  • Biology
  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Thomas Marek

  Amarillo College

  37 shared

• Prasanna H. Gowda

  22 shared

• James P. Bordovsky

  Texas A&M University System

  19 shared

• Jerry E. Moorhead

  Conservation and Production Research Laboratory

  18 shared

• Gary W. Marek

  Conservation and Production Research Laboratory

  13 shared

• David Bräuer

  Conservation and Production Research Laboratory

  13 shared

• Paul D. Colaizzi

  Conservation and Production Research Laboratory

  13 shared

• Srinivasulu Ale

  10 shared

Education

• B.S.

  Texas A&M University

  1987

• M.S.

  Texas A&M University

  1989

• Ph.D., Agricultural and Biological Engineering

  Mississippi State University

  1993