Agriculture is a significant user of water and as a result of state and national water reforms irrigation water is becoming less available, more expensive and tradeable. This has driven effort and investment in improving water use efficiency at the field, farm, catchment and basin scales.

This factsheet is designed to provide some ideas to improve water use efficiency at the field and farm scale and thereby minimise water use. These agricultural water-efficiency measures can help save water, energy and money, and possibly increase crop yields.

Topics include:

• Improving irrigation system performance
• Using improved technologies
• Efficient water management practices
• Irrigation scheduling
• Reducing losses from dams
• Improving soil structure