Farmers Are Exploiting Conservation Subsidies To Use More Water, Not Less | ThinkProgress: The government has paid farmers about $1 billion since 1997 to help them develop more efficient irrigation systems — but the subsidies have backfired. According to the New York Times, water conservation subsidies have actually led farmers to use even more water to irrigate crops, draining already fast-depleting aquifers and reservoirs.
Increasingly severe droughts and record low rainfall have forced farmers to rely more heavily on groundwater supplies. But without changing current farming practices, these reserves will run out rapidly. Climate change will make droughts longer and hotter, while rain will only come in harsh storms that will flood crops and erode valuable topsoil without much of it making it down to the groundwater.
The conservation subsidy under the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) was meant to help farmers employ more environmentally friendly practices. However, research shows the program prompted many farmers to expand their acreage using the water that was supposed to be conserved.