University of Arizona

Evaluation of agricultural best management practices in Arizona

The passage of the Groundwater Management Act of 1980, required agricultural producers to reduce farm-level water use by imposing higher irrigation efficiencies through cultivating fewer hectares, investments in ditch and field improvements or in new water-conserving irrigation technologies (Couple and Wilson 1990).

The Arizona Department of Water Resources (ADWR) has contracted the USDA-ARS Arid Land Agricultural Research Center and the University of Arizona to conduct an independent evaluation of ADWR's Agricultural Water Conservation Program. The aim of this project is to gather information about the best management practices (BMP) of successful water conservation of agricultural producers enrolled in the Base Program.