2022 Census of Agriculture: Irrigated cropland reaches a 30-year low in 2022

The latest USDA Census of Agriculture data show that just under 55 million acres of cropland in the contiguous United States were irrigated in 2022. This was the lowest level since 1992 and a decrease of roughly 3 million acres from the last census in 2017, when irrigated cropland reached a record high 58 million acres. The decline was driven largely by decreases of 1.8 million acres (14 percent) in the Mountain region, 0.9 million acres (7 percent) in the Northern Plains, and 0.7 million acres (15 percent) in the Southern Plains. During 2022, these regions experienced severe, widespread drought conditions and other factors, such as restricted water supplies throughout the western United States, which broadly affected irrigated acreage. Despite having the largest decrease, the Mountain region still contains the most irrigated acreage at 11.4 million acres in 2022. About 18 percent of U.S. cropland is irrigated. For more information on the 2022 Census of Agriculture, see USDA, National Agricultural Statistics Service’s website. This chart is drawn from the USDA, Economic Research Service (ERS) report Major Uses of Land in the United States, 2017 with updates from the 2022 Census of Agriculture data. For more information on trends in U.S. irrigated agriculture, see the ERS topic page Irrigation and Water Use.

Download larger size chart (2048 pixels by 2048, 96 dpi)