Rice Farming and Irrigation

Rice farming in the lower reaches of the Colorado River has made major investments over the past generation to be more efficient in its water use. These conservation efforts have grown since the 1990s, accelerated by cost-shares with the NRCS (2002) and the LCRA (2006). Major initiatves have included land-planing and GPS-assisted laser-leveling of cropfields, testing of more drought-tolerant rice varieties, and construction of metered control structures and permanent levees. These improvements have resulted in savings of thousands of acre-feet in irrigation waters.