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<br /> <br />percent is in the seventeen western conterminous states*. <br /> <br />~ The balance lies in humid and semi-humid states where there <br />I'\:l <br />C) is a need for supplemental irrigation during periods of <br />CO <br />drouth. Florida, for example, ranks tenth in the national <br /> <br />inventory with 1,490,000 irrigated acres (603,000 hectares). <br />The importance of irrigated agriculture to the national <br /> <br />economy is apparent when it is realized that irrigation is <br /> <br /> <br />practiced on about 10 percent of the nation's cropland and <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />generates approximately 25 percent of the total crop value. <br /> <br />Irrigated agriculture a:ccounts for about 35 percent of <br /> <br />the total water withdrawn in the nation for off-channel uses <br /> <br />and approximately 85 percent of the total national water <br /> <br />consumption. The national annual irrigation water <br /> <br />requirement, projected to 1980, is placed at 140,000,000 <br />acre-feet(172,688,600,000 cubic meters) (1). This water <br /> <br />will be supplied from both $urface and ground water sources. <br /> <br />The application of water to cropland under controlled <br /> <br /> <br />conditions has many advantages. It enables the equitable <br /> <br /> <br />distribution of water-soluble fertilizers, liquefied animal <br /> <br />*Those conterminous states located west of the eastern <br />boundaries of North Dakota, ' South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, <br />Oklahoma and Texas <br /> <br />8 <br />