{"id":28033,"date":"2024-08-01T12:15:03","date_gmt":"2024-08-01T19:15:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/plantingseedsblog.cdfa.ca.gov\/wordpress\/?p=28033"},"modified":"2024-08-01T12:15:47","modified_gmt":"2024-08-01T19:15:47","slug":"usda-announces-investments-of-up-to-400-million-to-conserve-water-through-production-of-water-saving-commodities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/plantingseedsblog.cdfa.ca.gov\/wordpress\/index.php\/2024\/08\/01\/usda-announces-investments-of-up-to-400-million-to-conserve-water-through-production-of-water-saving-commodities\/","title":{"rendered":"USDA announces investments of up to $400 million to conserve water through production of water-saving commodities"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A photo of water-conserving drip irrigation. <\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

From a USDA News Release<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

USDA secretary Tom Vilsack has announced the agency will invest $400 million with at least 18 irrigation districts, including five in California, to help farmers continue commodity production while also conserving water across the West. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The funding, which will support irrigation districts and producers using innovative water savings technologies and farming practices while producing water-saving commodities in the face of continued drought, is expected to conserve up to 50,000 acre-feet in water use across 250,000 acres of irrigated land in production, while expanding and creating new, sustainable market opportunities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Agricultural producers are the backbone of rural communities across the West and many of them are struggling under prolonged drought conditions,\u201d Vilsack said. \u201cUSDA is taking an \u2018all hands\u2019 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.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

USDA worked to select irrigation districts based on several commodity production and water management-related criteria in order to maximize the ability to achieve program objectives, leveraging available data from the Department of the Interior\u2019s Bureau of Reclamation to ensure close alignment and partnership. USDA\u2019s Economic Research Service (ERS) provided data and analysis to support the preliminary selections. Districts that have been preliminarily selected for potential inclusion in this program include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n