Water Conservation in Irrigated Agriculture: Trends and Challenges in the Face of Emerging Demands
U.S. agriculture accounts for 80-90 percent of the Nation's consumptive water use (water lost to the environment by evaporation, crop transpiration, or incorporation into products). Despite technological innovations, at least half of U.S. irrigated cropland acreage is still irrigated with less efficient, traditional irrigation application systems. Sustainability of irrigated agriculture will depend partly on whether producers adopt more efficient irrigation production systems that integrate improved on farm water management practices with efficient irrigation application systems.