The 2023 Irrigation and Water Management Survey results showed 212,714 farms with 53.1 million irrigated acres, which included 81 million acre-feet applied in the U.S.
“The 2023 Irrigation and Water Management Survey is conducted every five years and expands on the data collected in the 2022 Census of Agriculture,” says NASS Administrator Joseph Parsons. “The report offers detailed, comprehensive, up-to-date information specific to the agriculture industry’s use, management, and investment of water supplies and irrigation systems.”
Among the report’s highlights, the total amount of water used in 2023, at 81 million acre-feet, was 2.8 percent below 2018. Five states accounted for almost one-half of the irrigated acres and more than half of all water applied – Arkansas, California, Idaho, Nebraska, and Texas. The largest portion of irrigated farmland acres in the United States was dedicated to cropland, including grains and oilseed crops, vegetables, nursery and greenhouse products, and hay crops.
