Overview
Irrigation is critical to agriculture in the United States: nearly
half of the value of all crops sold comes from the 16 percent of harvested
cropland that is irrigated. In the process, agriculture accounts for over
80 percent of water consumed (i.e., withdrawn from surface- or groundwater
sources and lost to the immediate water environment through evaporation,
plant transpiration, incorporation in products or crops, or consumption
by humans or livestock). But water is increasingly needed for urban, industrial,
environmental, and other uses. Because it accounts for such a large share
of total consumption, agriculture is central to the challenge of balancing
water demands among alternative uses.
Irrigation is particularly important for agriculture in the Western United
States. Farms in the 17 Western States use a wide variety of irrigation
systems, about half of which are gravity-based (e.g., flooding furrows
or entire fields) and half more efficient pressure systems (e.g., center-pivot
sprinklers). To improve irrigation efficiency, Federal and State agencies
and local water management districts have provided cost-share payments
to improve water delivery on farms (such as the lining of open-ditch irrigation
systems) and/or promote more efficient technologies (such as low-pressure
sprinkler irrigation systems). About 13 percent of irrigated farms in
the West participated in these cost-share programs during 1994-98.
Most irrigated farms are small farms (under $250,000 in annual sales),
as are most farms that receive cost-share payments to improve irrigation
efficiency. But larger farms ($250,000 or more in annual sales) use the
most irrigation water, and the largest 10 percent of irrigated farms ($500,000
or more in annual sales) account for half of total farm water applied.
Cost-share programs that target larger farms more heavily may conserve
more water and better meet environmental and other policy objectives.
For more details, get the summary of results.
Feature
Irrigation,
Water Conservation, and Farm Size in the Western United States—Irrigation is critical to U.S. agriculture. While just
16 percent of all harvested cropland is irrigated, this acreage
generates nearly half the value of all crops sold. Agriculture accounts
for over 80 percent of water consumed in the U.S. Because of its
large share of total consumption, agriculture is central to the
challenge of balancing water demands among alternative uses, including
increasing water demand for urban, industrial, and environmental
uses. Amber Waves June 2004.
Data
The 147 electronic data tables are
grouped into 16 aggregate categories, ranging from total irrigation values
(for all irrigated farms) to water-conserving, higher efficiency irrigation
to conservation cost-share program participation. Each aggregate category
includes 1—18 Excel and html tables identifying more specific irrigation
characteristics by farm size by State.
Methods
Find out about the methods used to develop the
data presented in the tables.
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