Nebraska can no longer claim to be the nation's top irrigated state according to data from the USDA 2022 Census of Agriculture. The Census shows Nebraska had 15,122 irrigated farms in 2022 with 7.96 million irrigated acres, a drop in acres of 7% from 2017. The 2017 Census showed 16,122 irrigated farms with 8.59 million acres. The updated figures place Nebraska second to California who has 46,247 irrigated farms and 8.16 million irrigated acres, up from 7.83 million acres in 2017. Arkansas follows Nebraska with 4.75 million acres. The three states together account for 38% of the total irrigated acreage in the nation.

Slightly under 55 million acres in the U.S. were irrigated in 2022, about 18% of total U.S. cropland. That's the lowest since 1992 and a decrease of roughly 3 million acres from the 2017 Census when irrigated cropland reached a record high 58 million acres. The decline was driven by decreases of 1.8 million acres (14%) in the Mountain region, 0.9 million acres (7%) in the Northern Plains, and 0.7 million acres (15%) in the Southern Plains (Figure 4). The Mountain region has the most irrigated acreage with 11.4 million acres in 2022.

FIGURE 4. Irrigated Acres by Region