With canal delivery likely short in 2026, producers need realistic expectations for how each crop will perform under limited water. This article — Part three of a four-part Crop Watch series recapping the Yonts Water Conference — summarizes long-term deficit-irrigation research at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Panhandle Research, Extension and Education Center for corn, dry bean, sugar beet and alfalfa. Each crop responds differently, and the differences matter for 2026 planting and irrigation-scheduling decisions.
Results below are presented as relative yield, yield expressed as a percent of the maximum observed in that year’s trial, rather than absolute bushels, hundredweight or tons. This lets us compare dry-year and wet-year responses on the same axis and focus on how much yield is lost per inch of irrigation not applied. It should be noted that although the treatments below yield responses under some extreme water-limited conditions, the research plots were under well water, which allowed flexibility in irrigation timing, especially during early crop development stages. If rainfall or canal water is scarce in the early growing season, yield loss may be greater than the figures below indicate.
CORN…