Farmers’ water conservation efforts are paying off. In the 15 years preceding 2010, agricultural water use in the U.S. trended lower, with irrigation water use declining 8.3% in that time. Consumer trends are contributing to the decline; poultry consumption rose and beef consumption fell in that time period, and the former requires 3.5 times less water per pound of production, the research shows. No single water conservation measure or strategy is universally effective in crop production, but the measures farmers are taking have contributed vastly to the overall decline. It’s a call for producers to continue to adopt conservation practices to continue the trend. See more on the new research.