Utah is going big on helping farmers grow crops with less water, but can it help the Great Salt Lake

Colorado is only now recovering from a 16-year long drought that resulted in the aquifer irrigation system becoming increasingly dry. Until the farmers decided to tax themselves for water consumption, realizing that saving water now and taxing themselves would protect their farms and livelihood in the long run.

A federally-funded water conservation program, the System Conservation Pilot Program, is paying farmers in the Upper Colorado River Basin to not use the river’s water during the irrigation season. Leaving their fields dry for the program can earn them more money than they would get from growing crops.

A government scheme in Pakistan involves the construction of water-harvesting dams in areas that experience droughts, which allows farmers in the region to use the irrigation water from the dams for their crops. One farmer is growing onions and wheat and because of the access to water, his income has increased more than 60 percent. There are concerns about how helpful the water from the dams will ultimately be in the arid region, but there are plans to build more dams in the next few years.

An Arizona farmer became the first organic regenerative certified farm in the southwest using practices that conserve water and improve soil health along the drought-stuck Gila River. His practices include growing arid-adapted crops, integrating livestock grazing, and planting cover crops.

In the arid Karnataka region of India, millet is largely replacing rice as a staple crop. Not only does this drought-resistant grain require far less water and pesticide, but it's also highly nutritious. Perceptions are also beginning to change. What was once viewed as subpar food is starting to look like a winner in an increasingly thirsty world.

Environmental refugees in Ethiopia flee their country because there are no jobs without healthy land. A group of former refugees have returned to Ethiopia with a business venture in Gergera to improve the land by regreening efforts, foresting, and building water conservation systems. The new businesses demonstrated such positive effects that the region is now on the brink of resettlement due to improved environmental conditions.

The U.S. government has developed different sensors for irrigation devices that gauge water demand and help conserve use. as water shortages caused by drought have increased across the globe, and farmers are faced with economic burdens, such technology is focusin on sustainability for the future.

In Australia, the Murray-Darling Basin Ministerial Council was formed after a severe drought to bring together federal, state and regional governments and bridge parochial concerns. It was meant to manage the basin as a whole and end overuse and salinization of farm land, leveraging new technologies to adapt to new realities.

Nevada launched a $25 million pilot program in 2023 that pays farmers to voluntarily retire groundwater rights in over-pumped basins. The state-funded buyback purchases water rights at competitive rates and retires them to reduce unsustainable groundwater extraction, with the help of local organizations like the Walker Basin Conservancy. Since forming, the program retired approximately 22,500 acre-feet of groundwater rights, and the program's success led to unanimous bipartisan legislation to expand it.

Utah is ditching the “use it or lose it” water rights doctrine to encourage farmers to conserve water amid severe water shortages. Instead, it’s encouraging farmers to use less water while allowing them to keep their rights to it. The government is awarding funding for efficiency upgrades and creating a system for farmess to lease out the saved water.