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Agriculture

EPA Programs & Resources

Additional Resources

Alliance for Water Efficiency’s Resource Library strives to provide the best on-line resources on water conservation and efficiency.
National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service provides publications, success stories, and links to explain how to make farm buildings more energy efficient, use the sun's energy to heat greenhouses and pump water, choose and put up wind turbines, make and use biofuels, and much more.
California’s Department of Water Resources Agricultural Water Use Program works to disseminate and transfer information on improved irrigation technologies and to identify and help develop technologies and farming methods that improve water use efficiency.
United States Department of Agriculture Wind Erosion and Water Conservation Unit conducts applied and fundamental research on the causes and consequences of wind-induced soil erosion, and the interactions of plants with the soil and aerial environments; and develops wind erosion mitigation strategies and water management strategies that alleviate, delay, or moderate the impact of drought and thermal stress on crop production.
USDA ARS Arid Land Agricultural Research Center (ALARC)’s mission is to develop sustainable agricultural systems, protect natural resources, and support rural communities in arid and semi-arid regions through interdisciplinary research. Research topics include crop management, integrated pest management, irrigation technology, remote sensing, water reuse, crop breeding and physiology, and global climate change.
On the Alternative Farming Systems Information Center website you can find out how farmers are harnessing (and profiting from) alternative energy sources: wind, sun, water and energy crops.
Agriculture Water Management Council is dedicated to bringing together all interested parties in agricultural water management with the expressed goal to achieve greater water management efficiency.
On NREL’s Renewable Energy for Farmers and Ranchers website, you can learn about the technologies that are commercially available today for farms and ranches.
Livestock’s Long Shadow: Environmental Issues and Options aims to assess the full impact of the livestock sector on environmental problems, along with potential technical and policy approaches to mitigation.

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What Is Agricultural Water Use?

Agriculture is an important part of the nation’s economy. For example, here in the Pacific Southwest, California has a multi-billion dollar agricultural industry. Our region is also challenged with long droughts and water shortages. Farmers and ranchers grow food and fiber for the world, which requires using large quantities of water, particularly for irrigation. According to the United States Geological Survey’s Estimated Use of Water in the United States in 2000, 34% of our nation’s available water was withdrawn for irrigation purposes.

Agricultural water use is facing increasing pressure due to competing needs for urban development, ecosystem protections, and the increasing costs of water, as well as its scarcity.

How Can Water and Energy Be Used More Efficiently?

As stewards of the land, farmers have the unique opportunity to help mitigate climate change and water shortages in a number of ways: improving water-use efficiency, enhancing on-farm water retention, reducing on-farm demand, restoring habitat, protecting open space, increasing soil content and soil moisture, sequestering carbon, and generating on-farm renewable energy from sources such as livestock waste.

Using Irrigation Systems More Efficiently

On farm water conservation methods include irrigation scheduling, tail water return systems increasing water pump efficiency and powering irrigation pumps with renewable energy.

You can learn more about efficient irrigation technologies and practices with the Center for Irrigation Technology and the CA Department of Water Resources.

Enhancing On-Farm Water Retention

The U.S. produces many organic materials that can be used as soil amendments: livestock waste, foods scraps collected through municipalities, food processing wastes, industrial organic wastes, logging residues, wood processing wastes, and yard clippings. Judiciously applied to cropland, these "wastes" help retain soil moisture and fertilize the soil, increasing soil organic carbon content, and there by helping mitigate global climate change. Using cover crops, managing crop residues and other biomass, and implementing conservation tillage methods also allow water and energy to be used more efficiently and improve the physical, chemical and biological health of the soil by improving its structure, infiltration rate, and organic matter content.

Restoring Habitat

Conservation buffers and restored wetlands and riparian areas are just a few ways farmers can restore and protect habitat. These actions not only enhance wildlife habitat and protect biodiversity, but also mitigate the impacts of climate change.

Financial assistance is available through the USDA Farm Bill’s conservation programs--the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP), Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program (WHIP), Wetlands Reserve Program (WRP), and Stewardship Incentives Program (SIP).

Generating Energy “On-Farm”

Renewable energy options—like solar, geothermal, and wind—use negligible amounts of water. Investing in renewables invests in water conservation. Farmers have a unique opportunity to take advantage of waste and space in order to generate energy on their farm.

Dairies can utilize methane from cow manure and produce energy through the use of anaerobic digesters. The AgSTAR Program encourages the use of methane recovery (biogas) technologies at confined animal feeding operations that manage manure as liquids or slurries. These technologies reduce methane emissions while achieving other environmental benefits.

You can find out more about how farmers are harnessing (and profiting from) alternative energy sources like wind, sun, water and energy crops at the Alternative Farming Systems Information Center.

Case Studies

The Wine Institute’s Comprehensive Guide to Sustainable Management of Winery Water and Associated Energy provides a set of tools for wineries of all sizes to use in realigning existing facilities or designing new facilities to achieve goals for sustainable management of winery source water and wastewater, with ancillary benefits of increasing energy efficiency and reducing greenhouse gas generation.
From installing rainwater catchment and solar water heaters on farms to using water more efficiently at their dairy processing facilities, Dean Foods is reducing water up and down their supply chain.
The Pacific Institute’s More with Less: Agricultural Water Conservation and Efficiency in California looks at four scenarios for increasing agricultural water-use efficiency. Their central findings show that improving agricultural water-use efficiency will not only maintain a strong agricultural sector but create a more resilient agricultural sector.

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