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If you are interested in being more efficient with your irrigation systems, the California Department of Food and Agriculture may be able to help.

CDFA is now accepting up to $2 million in grant applications for a State Water Efficiency and Enhancement Program (SWEEP) pilot project for the Southern Desert Region of California. Funding of up to $200,000 is available to California farmers, ranchers and federally and California-Recognized Native American Indian Tribes within the Southern Desert region.

CDFA has defined the southern desert region as Imperial and Riverside counties, east of the Santa Rosa Mountains and San Jacinto Mountains.

Supported project components will include the use of weather, soil or plant-based sensors for irrigation scheduling, irrigation system changes, fuel conversion, renewable energy installation, utility interconnections, pump retrofits or replacements.

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Projects will be required to reduce on-farm irrigation water use and will have to demonstrate that greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from irrigation water pumping will be offset or will not increase following the installation of the project. For three years following project completion, all recipients of this pilot program will provide post-project water and energy records to CDFA so that the GHG impact of projects can be evaluated in consideration of California’s climate change mitigation goals. 

The eight-week application period opened on Sept. 13, 2022, and will close on Nov. 8, 2022, at 5 p.m. PT. More information on the SWEEP Pilot can be found here. 

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