Southern Oregon Farmers Idle 11K Acres To Help Conserve Water

Klamath Drainage District growers are stepping up to conserve water during another challenging irrigation season.

Back in April, District Manager Scott White set a goal of idling 10,000 acres through the Klamath Project Drought Response Agency's water conservation programs.  Instead, landowners enrolled more than 11,000—nearly half of the district's eligible farmland.

“The response was tremendous,” White said. “I’m proud of the district’s landowners for stepping up to the plate and taking the action needed to help stretch water for all of the Klamath Project in a tight water year.”

The district says its enrolled acreage accounts for about 20% of all acres signed up for the basin-wide demand reduction effort. 

The KPDRA offered four programs:

• The No Irrigation program offered irrigators $425 per acre for land not receiving water from November 1, 2025 through October 31st, 2026.
• The Partial Season program payment provided farmers $212.50 per acre for not irrigating between March 1st and October 31st.
• The Limited Irrigation program paid growers $212.50 per acre for perennial crops and $75 for annual crops provided irrigation ceased by May 27th and would not resume until October 31st.
• A five-year “Demand Reduction” assistance program was also offered for growers willing to idle at least 50 acres of irrigable land. The Demand Reduction program allowed growers to change which acres would be idled during those five years, provided the minimum parcel size was 25 contiguous acres and no parcel could be fallowed for three of the five years. 

In past water shortages, the district’s patrons sent unused recycled water to Unit 2 of the Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuge via the Ady Canal. They will assess their ability to do so again this August. 

White added the Klamath Drainage District also continues to conserve water through recycling systems that reuse more than 75% of the water entering its canals, with additional efficiency gains from automated water management technology.

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