The Soil and Water Management Research Unit conducts basic and fundamental research: (i) to improve crop productivity and water use efficiency in irrigated and dryland cropping systems through the development of advanced irrigation technologies and tillage/residue management practices and (ii) that develops soil and water managment practicies to sustain the soil resource and enhance water quality. 

Mission goals are accomplished through a better understanding of soil-plant-water relations and the dynamics governing energy and water fluxes at the soil-plant-atmosphere interface, particularly in semi-arid environments; and improved understanding of the fate and transport of sediment, nutrients, and agro-chemicals in dryland and irrigated cropping systems.