USDA Develops a Plan to Address Agricultural Water Security Issues

Abstract

As population continues to increase across the United States and around the world, there is a growing demand for safe, reliable sources of water to meet the needs of the expanding population. Farmers, ranchers, and rural communities are particularly susceptible to the mounting pressures to provide more water to urban and urbanizing areas at the expense of water supplies in rural and agricultural communities. Agricultural water security is used here to describe 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. Drought and the reliability of water supplies for agriculture and rural communities historically have been linked to western states. However, issues surrounding agricultural water security have expanded beyond western states and now represent a national crisis. On June 5, 2003 Interior Secretary Gale A. Norton and Agriculture Secretary Ann M. Veneman signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) aimed at promoting improved water management and rapid response to emerging water supply shortages in the West. This MOU highlights the need for expanding the research and education programs focused on better management of water resources. On September 9–10 2004, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)-Research Education, and Economics (REE) agencies conduced an Agricultural Water Security Listening Session in Park City, Utah, to determine the relevance of current USDA-REE efforts and to develop the basis for future research, education, extension, and economics programs within USDA that take full advantage of partnerships with other federal and state agencies. These REE agencies include the Agricultural Research Service (ARS), the Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service (CSREES), the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), and the Economic Research Service (ERS). Approximately 90 representatives from federal and state agencies, universities and colleges, non-profit and private sector firms and local municipalities participated in the listening session. Six key topic areas were identified for REE involvement through the listening session: drought preparedness and mitigation, irrigation efficiency, general water conservation, urban and rural water reuse, biotechnology, and economics and water marketing. Participants in the listening session identified 19 Bold Steps that USDA and particularly the REE Mission Area could take to move closer to solutions for agricultural water security. The presentation will discuss the results of this listening session and describe the progress being made to expand research, education, extension, and economic efforts within USDA related to water supply, allocation, and distribution problems throughout the nation.