The amount of water needed to run a farm is huge. When we think of water on a farm, we think of watering crops like vegetable and grain, but we also need to account for supplying drinking water to livestock like chickens, pigs and sheep. Food must also be grown for them to eat. Often farms have cold storage and water is required in the cooling systems used to keep produce fresh. Water is used in spreading fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides, which produce a greater crop yield, but can also contaminate the water. Most of the water used on farms is used for irrigation. Studies show that by using drip irrigation, farmers can conserve up to 60% of the water that it would normally take to irrigate their crops using other systems of irrigation.
Example of a Drip Irrigation system
A close-up of a dripper