Agriculture

Globally, the agricultural sector consumes about 70% of the planet’s accessible freshwater. Because water is vital for the success of agriculture, proper water management techniques are necessary to meet food and fiber material demands around the world. Resources available here pay special attention to efficient irrigation and sustainable agriculture techniques.

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Agriculture Resources

Abandoned Farmland Often Is Troubled Land in Need of Restoration

The National Institutes for Water Resources
Land plowed, fertilized, and irrigated obviously is useful land, with purpose and value. No longer farmed and lying fallow, that same land may be barren or grow only sparse, weedy vegetation in dry and infertile soils. Called abandoned or derelict farmland, this land often is an environmental...Read more
Regional focus: 
United StatesNorth America

O&M Costs in Irrigation: Reappearing Government and Farmer Responsibilities and Rights

U.S. Agency for International Development
The amount of money governments spend on irrigation development continues to be a matter of major policy concern, the more so as "the fiscal crisis" constraints governments not only in the developing world but in the U.S. as well. A discussion of the state of the art in this policy area...Read more
Regional focus: 
United StatesNorth America

Tennessee Valley Authority Act (1933)

Published: 
May 18, 1933
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) Act of 1933 established the Tennessee Valley Authority to oversee the construction of dams to control flooding, improve navigation and create cheap electric power in the Tennessee Valley basin. It serves to improve the navigability and to provide for the flood...Read more
Regional focus: 
United States

Water Conservation in Irrigated Agriculture: Trends and Challenges in the Face of Emerging Demands

Published: 
September 1, 2012
U.S. Department of Agriculture
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...Read more
Regional focus: 
United States

Agricultural Water Security Listening Session -Final Report

Published: 
September 10, 2004
U.S. Department of Agriculture
Agricultural water security is described as the need to maintain adequate water supplies to meet the food and fiber needs of the expanding population maximizing the efficiency of water use by farmers, ranchers, and rural communities. This literature reports on best practices for stakeholder...Read more
Regional focus: 
United States

Soil, Nutrient, and Water Management Systems Used in U.S. Corn Production

Published: 
April 1, 2002
U.S. Department of Agriculture
Corn production uses over 25 percent of the Nation's cropland and more than 40 percent of the commercial fertilizer applied to crops. Thus, corn farmers' choices of soil, nutrient, and water management systems can have a major impact not only on their own profitability, but also on the...Read more
Regional focus: 
United States

Agricultural Resource Management Survey - Phase III

Published: 
November 1, 2012
U.S. Department of Agriculture
Data collected in the Agricultural Resource Management Survey (ARMS) is the U.S. Department of Agriculture's primary source of information on agricultural resource use and costs, farm sector financial conditions, and farm household finances. The ARMS is the only source of information available...Read more
Regional focus: 
United States

Water Quality Impacts of Agriculture

Published: 
July 21, 2006
U.S. Department of Agriculture
Agricultural production releases residuals, like sediment and pesticides, that may degrade the quality of water resources and impose costs on water users. Agriculture is the leading source of impairments in the Nation's rivers and lakes and a major source of impairments to estuaries. However,...Read more
Regional focus: 
United States

Livestock Water Use

Published: 
July 21, 2021
Livestock water use is water associated with livestock watering, feedlots, dairy operations, and other on-farm needs. Livestock includes dairy cows and heifers, beef cattle and calves, sheep and lambs, goats, hogs and pigs, horses, and poultry. Other livestock water uses include cooling of...Read more
Regional focus: 
United States

Pesticides and Water Quality

Published: 
July 21, 2021
Pesticides are used in agriculture, in homes and businesses, on lawns and gardens, along roads, in recreational areas, and on pets and livestock. There are hundreds of different pesticide chemicals in use in the United States. In 2007, about 390 million kilograms (430,000 tons) of pesticides,...Read more
Regional focus: 
United States

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