Nov 5, 2024

USDA survey shows drop in irrigated acres in 2023

Newly published USDA data shows that 212,714 farms had 53.1 million irrigated acres in the U.S. in 2023. Both numbers were down from the last measured period.

The 2023 Irrigation and Water Management Survey results were published in October by the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service. Survey results from 2018 showed 231,474 farms with 55.9 million irrigated acres.

The 2023 numbers included 81 million acre-feet of water, while the 2018 data included 83.4 million acre-feet of water.

An acre-foot is the amount of water required to cover one acre to a depth of one foot.

“The 2023 Irrigation and Water Management Survey, conducted every five years, expands on the data collected in the 2022 Census of Agriculture,” NASS Administrator Joseph L. Parsons said. “This report offers detailed, comprehensive, up-to-date information specific to the agriculture industry’s use, management, and investment of water supplies and irrigation systems.”

Five states accounted for around one-half of the irrigated acres and more than half of all water applied: Arkansas, California, Idaho, Nebraska, and Texas.

The survey (.pdf) followed up with approximately 35,000 producers who indicated in the 2022 Census of Agriculture that they irrigated or had irrigation equipment. Producers provided information on water sources and amount of water used, acres irrigated by type of system, irrigation use by crop, and system investments and energy costs.

“The 2023 Irrigation and Water Management Survey data provide valuable information that producers, farm organizations, businesses, state departments of agriculture, elected representatives and legislative bodies at all levels of government can use to make agriculture water use more efficient,” Parsons said. “From comparing water use by application methods or appraising water use trends to developing improved technologies or federal programs, these data are crucial to the industry.”

Other highlights from the 2023 Irrigation and Water Management Survey include:

• The average acre-feet applied per acre was 1.5, which was the same as the 2018 irrigation survey.
• The largest portion of irrigated farmland acres in the U.S. was dedicated to cropland – including grain and oilseed crops, vegetables, nursery and greenhouse, and hay crops.
• Farmers irrigated 49.6 million acres of harvested cropland acres in the open in 2023.
• Ground water from on-farm wells accounted for 54% of irrigation water applied to acres in the open; the average well depth in 2023 was 241 feet.
• The irrigation results show 12.6 million more irrigated acres with sprinkler systems than gravity irrigation.
• Farmers and ranchers spent $3 billion on irrigation equipment, facilities, land improvements and computer technology in 2023. Energy costs for pumping well and surface water amounted to $3.3 billion.
• Irrigated area of horticulture under protection was 1.7 billion square feet in 2023, compared with 1.5 billion square feet in 2018.
• Irrigated horticulture grown in the open was 598,980 acres in 2023, compared with 581,936 acres in 2018.