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Nebraska now first in irrigated agriculture
It’s official-Nebraska now has more irrigated farmland acres than any other state.
Recent census numbers show Nebraska had eight-point-five million acres under irrigation at the end of 2007. That puts the Cornhusker State ahead of California, which dropped from eight-point-seven million acres in 2002 to eight-point-two million in 2007.
Irrigated acres are dropping in many parts of the country, but continue to rise in Nebraska. Nebraska added 560-thousand acres of irrigation from 1997 to 2002 and another 930-thousand acres between 2002 and 2007. Custer and Lincoln counties experienced the largest increases in the 10-year time period-61 and 56 percent, respectively.
However, University of Nebraska ag economist Bruce Johnson says some areas of the state may be over-developed on irrigation. He says significant limitations on future irrigation are looming and predicts up to 30-thousand irrigated acres may have to be changed back to dryland acres as a result.
The Nebraska legislature this year passed a law putting significant restrictions on further groundwater development for irrigation purposes.
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