Projects will pay farmers to reduce water use in the West
Eighteen water districts in the arid U.S. West will receive a share of $400 million from the USDA for local projects that pay farmers to reduce water consumption while keeping land in production, said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack on Thursday. Irrigation use could drop by 50,000 acre-feet on 250,000 acres in 12 states, from Texas to California and Oregon. “Agricultural producers are the backbone of rural communities across the West, and many of them are struggling under prolonged drought conditions,” said Vilsack. “We want to scale up the tools available to keep farmers farming while also voluntarily conserving water and expanding markets for water-saving commodities.”
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