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U.S. Irrigated Agriculture: Trends and Challenges

Glenn D. Schaible

Economic Research Service, USDA

An Invited Presentation to the 2014 Universities Council on Water Resources (UCOWR)

Meetings (a USDA-NIFA funded conference), Medford, Massachusetts (June 18-20, 2014).

Source: USDA-NRCS Photo Gallary -- https://photogallery.sc.egov.usda.gov/res/sites/photogallery/ .

https://photogallery.sc.egov.usda.gov/res/sites/photogallery/


Presentation Objectives ● Current status of U.S. irrigated agriculture.

─ How important irrigation is to U.S. agriculture

─ Where does irrigation occur, what does it produce. ● Role of emerging demands and climate change on water supply and demand

● The challenge changing forces pose for agricultural water conservation.

● Sustainable irrigated agriculture ── A broader ‘conservation’ perspective ─ Shifting from an onfarm technology “application” focus to:

(1) an onfarm irrigation “production system” focus, and to a

(2) farm/institutional conservation perspective [integrating farm

and watershed-scale water-management initiatives].

Source: Schaible, G.D. and M.P. Aillery. Water Conservation in Irrigated Agriculture: Trends and Challenges

in the Face of Emerging Demands, Economic Information Bulletin (EIB-99), Economic Research

Service, U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, Washington, DC (September 2012), at:

http://www.ers.usda.gov/media/884158/eib99.pdf



0

100

200

300

400

500

600

1950 1955 1960 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005

Public supply

Rural domestic and livestock

Irrigation

Thermoelectric power

Other

Total withdrawals

Wit

hd

raw

als

(m

illi

on

s o

f a

cre

-feet p

er

yea

r)Traditional Water Demands(Agriculture vs. Non-Agricultural)

Trends in total water withdrawals by major water-use category, 1950 -- 2005.

Source: Kenny, J.F., Barber, N.L., Hutson, S.S., Linsey, K.S., Lovelace, J.K., and Maupin, M.A., 2009, Estimated use of water in the United

States in 2005, U.S. Geological Survey, Circular 1344, 52 p.

Thermoelectric Power Irrigation


How Important is Irrigation to U.S. Agriculture?

● Irrigated farms accounted for $152.4 billion in sales, or 39% of the

market value of agricultural products sold in 2012.

● Average per-farm value of market sales (2012):

▬ All farms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $ 187,097

▬ Non-irrigated (dryland) farms . . . . . . $ 133,603

▬ Irrigated farms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $ 514,412

● Irrigation contributes to the value of livestock and poultry production

through irrigated crop products used as animal forage and feed.

Source: 2012 Census of Agriculture, National Agricultural Statistics Service (USDA, 2014).


Source: 2012 Agricultural Census, National Agricultural Statistics Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, 2014.

1 Dot = 10,000 Acres

Acres of Irrigated Land - 2012

U.S. Total

55,822,231

1 Dot = 1,000 Acres Increase

1 Dot = 1,000 Acres Decrease

Change in Irrigated Acres:

2007 - 2012

U.S. Net

Decrease

777,074

Where does crop irrigation occur ?

How has it changed over time ?


Source: 2012 Census of Agriculture, National Agricultural Statistics Service (USDA, 2014)


17 Western States

Corn (for grain)

Sorghum (for grain)

1.5 %7.1 %

Soybeans

8.4 %Wheat (All)

Rice 1.9 %

Oats 0.1 %

6.3 %

Cotton

(All)

Peanuts

0.4 %

Sugarbeets

(for sugar) 1.1 %

24.5 %

Forage (all hay,

haylage, grass

silage, &

greenchop)

7.0 %Vegetables

9.8 %Orchards

5.3 %

All Other Crops

24.5 %

31 Eastern States

Corn (for grain)

24.3 %

Sorghum (for grain)

0.5 %

Soybeans

29.6 %

Wheat (All)

1.8 %

Rice

13.1 %

9.8 %Cotton (All)

Peanuts 2.5 %

Forage (all hay,

haylage, grass silage,

& greenchop) 1.6 %

Vegetables

12.5 %

Orchards 4.1 %

What Does Irrigation Produce ?

Distribution of Harvested Irrigated Acres by Major Crop Category, 2012

Source: 2012 Census of Agriculture, National Agricultural Statistics Service (USDA, 2014)


Emerging Water Demand/Supply Conditions:

Challenges for Irrigated Agriculture

● Growing competing water demands and increased scarcity

(1) potential realization of Native American water-right claims;

(2) an expanding instream (environmental) flow concept;

(3) water for an expanding energy sector; and

(4) the potential for supply and demand changes associated with

expected climate change impacts.

1. Native American water-right claims ─ Estimated at: 46 million ac.ft. annually (Western States Water Council, 1984) 2. Instream (environmental) flows ─ Shift in concept of beneficial use of surface waters :

[initially from an “out-of-stream development” to a “minimum

instream flow” concept, and more recently to the broader “environmental/-

ecosystem flow” concept].


Emerging Water Demand/Supply Conditions:

(Continued)

● Growing competing water demands and increased scarcity (Continued)

3. Water for energy expansion

─ an expanding biofuels sector, expanded use of evaporative cooling technology

for the thermo-electric power sector, utility-scale solar power development,

an expanding oil-shale sector, and expanded use of hydraulic fracking

by the deep-shale natural gas sector.

4. Climate change (supply/demand) impacts

─ For the West, forecasts involve a gradual warming of temperatures

─ Shift traditional source of freshwater supplies from stored winter

snowpack to more frequent and intensive early spring rainfall. ─ reduce irrigation water supplies by reducing the quantity and timing

of streamflows, reduce aquifer recharge rates, and increase crop

evapotranspiration requirements.


The Challenge for Agricultural Water Conservation ─ Part 1

Continue to enhance onfarm irrigation efficiency, but from a

broader “efficiency/conservation” perspective.

● With rising temperatures, existing irrigation systems become even less efficient.

● Increased competition and climate change impacts underscore the importance

of the “timing and quantity (or infield mgmt.) of irrigation applications.”

● Adaptability and sustainability of irrigated agriculture will depend on more

extensive adoption of higher-efficient irrigation production systems

▬ Systems that combine efficient irrigation application systems with more

intensive infield water-management practices.

● Efficient irrigation ‘production systems’ improve the ability of producers to

decide when to irrigate and how much water to apply by crop growth stage ▬ applying a crop’s consumptive-use requirement, or “deficit

irrigating”, while maximizing overall farm economic returns.


0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

1994 1998 2003 2008

Traditional Irrigated Acres

Efficient Sprinkler &

Drip/Trickle Irrigated Acres

Efficient Gravity Irrigated

Acres

More efficient irrigation (as a Percent of Total Irrigated Acres),

By System Type, for the 17 Western States, 1994-2008

How Efficient is Irrigated Agriculture?

Source: Farm and Ranch Irrigation Survey (FRIS) data (1994 – 2008), National Agricultural

Statistics Service, USDA. (Prepared by the Economic Research Service, USDA.)

More efficient gravity irrigation includes furrow irrigated acres using above- or below-ground pipe or a lined

open-ditch field water-delivery system, plus acres in flood irrigation (between borders or within basins) on

farms using laser-leveling and pipe or lined open-ditch field water-delivery systems. More efficient pressure-sprinkler irrigation includes acres using either drip/trickle systems or lower

pressure-sprinkler systems [pressure per square-inch (PSI) < 30]. Traditional irrigation included all remaining irrigated acres.


The Challenge for Agricultural Water Conservation (Part 2)

Better integrate improved onfarm water conservation programs

with institutional (watershed-level) water-management

mechanisms.

● Agricultural water conservation is both a farm and a basin-level

resource conservation issue.

● Integrate improved onfarm irrigation efficiency with State and

Federal watershed water-management tools:

─ e.g., conserved water rights, drought water banks, option water markets,

reservoir management, irrigated acreage and groundwater pumping

restrictions, and irrigated acreage retirement.


The Challenge for Agricultural Water Conservation

(Part 2) ─ Continued ● “Sustainable agriculture” as it applies to irrigated agriculture was initiated as a USDA goal with the Food, Agriculture, Conservation, and Trade Act of 1990, with the key objective to:

─ “protect and enhance America’s water resources” ● USDA’s Strategic Plan for FY’s 2010-15 highlights the importance of using farm-level, watershed, and institutional measures as strategic means to meet this goal (USDA, 2012). ● Current Status: USDA has participated in watershed-scale agricultural water conservation through Federal, State, and local stakeholder-based partnership agreements under its Agricultural Water Enhancement Program (AWEP). ─ From 2009-11, USDA entered into 101 AWEP partnership agreements. ─ The 2014 Farm Bill repealed AWEP (& other conservation programs) for a

broader land- and water-based Regional Conservation Partnership Program.

─ one emboding a landscape/institutional-scale resource conservation

perspective for both land and water.


Contact: Glenn D. Schaible, [email protected]

Ph: (202) 694-5549 Fax: (202) 694-5775

Supporting Sources: (1) Schaible & Aillery. (2012). Water Conservation in Irrigated Agriculture: Trends and Challenges in

the Face of Emerging Demands, Economic Information Bulletin #99, ERS-USDA, at:

http://www.ers.usda.gov/media/884158/eib99.pdf (2) Walthall, C. L., et al. (2013). Climate Change and Agriculture in the United States: Effects and

Adaptation, USDA Technical Bulletin 1935, Washington, DC, at:

http://www.usda.gov/oce/climate_change/effects.htm (3) Schaible & Aillery (2013), Western Irrigated Agriculture (ERS website Data Product summarizing

irrigation characteristics by farm-size class for the 17 Western States.) At:

http://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/western-irrigated-agriculture.aspx (4) Melillo, Jerry M., et al. (2014). Climate Change Impacts in the U.S.: The Third National Climate

Assessment, U.S. Global Change Research Program. At:

www.nca2014.globalchange.gov/downloads (5) Brown, Foti, and Ramirez. 2013. Projected Freshwater Withdrawals in the United States under

a Changing Climate, Water Resources Research, Vol. 49, pp. 1259 – 1276. At:

www.engr.colostate.edu/~ramirez/ce_old/projects/Brown_demand.pdf

mailto:[email protected]




http://www.usda.gov/oce/climate_change/effects.htm



http://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/western-irrigated-agriculture.aspx









http://www.nca2014.globalchange.gov/downloads

http://www.engr.colostate.edu/~ramirez/ce_old/projects/Brown_demand.pdf

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