Biden-Harris Administration to Pay Western Farmers $400 Million to Conserve Water While Maintaining Crop Production

Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack has announced that the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) will pay farmers in 11 Western states $400 million to conserve water while still growing crops in the drought-stricken region, a press release from USDA said.

The funds will be invested in a minimum of 18 irrigation districts to assist farmers with agricultural production while at the same time conserving precious water. The subsidies are expected to save as much as 50,000 acre-feet of water across 250,000 acres with innovative farming practices and technologies.

“Agricultural producers are the backbone of rural communities across the West and many of them are struggling under prolonged drought conditions,” Vilsack said in the press release. “USDA is taking an ‘all hands’ approach to help address this challenge, including these new partnerships with irrigation districts to support producers. We want to scale up the tools available to keep farmers farming, while also voluntarily conserving water and expanding markets for water-saving commodities.”

In May of 2024, the U.S. Department of the Interior announced that the immediate threat of reservoirs in the Colorado River System falling to critically low levels had been avoided for the time being, which would have threatened power production and water deliveries.

Water levels at Lake Mead are at their highest since May of 2021, and the Biden-Harris administration is working to ensure its resilience and long-term stability by focusing on water conservation in several Western basins.

USDA looked at several water management and commodity production criteria in choosing irrigation districts to benefit from the program. The preliminarily selected districts could be awarded as much as $15 million each, with the possibility of awards to additional districts depending on available funding.

Participating producers will receive funds for voluntarily reducing their water consumption while also maintaining commodity production. Producers’ needs will determine the methods used to conserve water, including shifts in management practices and cropping systems, irrigation improvements and other strategies.

“Maricopa-Stanfield Irrigation and Drainage District is pleased to be working with USDA to implement practices and projects that save water and improve efficiencies at a time when the historic drought in the southwest has put so much pressure on our agricultural producers,” the district said in the press release.

In addition to the selected districts, USDA also announced as much as $40 million of program capital to be set aside for Tribes. USDA plans to work with Tribes, the Bureau of Indian Affairs and Tribal producers to maintain agriculturally productive land while reducing water consumption.

USDA will also provide targeted assistance for supporting the conservation of water in areas of the Southwest that formed their irrigation systems under the acequia model, which uses a community irrigation canal or ditch to manage water, rather than irrigation districts.

“Practices like irrigation water management improve irrigation efficiency and mitigate climate change. Meanwhile, practices like conservation crop rotation, cover crop, residue and tillage management, no-till, and nutrient management help producers build resilience to future drought,” the press release said.