Farmers in the United States will be able to avail of a €366m fund to conserve water in the face of continued drought.

The funding will support irrigation districts and producers in using innovative water savings technologies and farming practices and is expected to conserve water use across 250,000ac of irrigated land in production.

Farmers in the states of Idaho, Utah, Arizona, California, Montana, Washington, Nevada and Texas are among those who will be able to avail of the funding.

"Agricultural producers are the backbone of rural communities across the west and many of them are struggling under prolonged drought conditions,” US agriculture secretary Tom Vilsack said.

“[The] USDA is taking an ‘all hands’ approach to help address this challenge, including these new partnerships with irrigation districts to support producers.

"We want to scale up the tools available to keep farmers farming, while also voluntarily conserving water and expanding markets for water-saving commodities.”

Drought situation

Large swathes of the US are experiencing severe to extreme and, in some cases, exceptional drought.

In a severe drought, crop or pasture losses are likely and water shortages are common. In cases of extreme drought, major crop and pasture losses are likely, with widespread water shortages.

The northwest saw some relief from the extreme heat this week, with temperatures in Nevada, California, Oregon and Washington being a couple of degrees below normal.

However, southern California, the southern tip of Nevada and western Arizona saw temperatures of over 32°C this week, with the highest one-day maximum temperature reaching over 43°C.

In the northwest, Montana saw slight improvements in the far north where temperatures were slightly below normal.

Central Utah saw minor expansion of abnormal dryness as streamflow began to drop and vegetation is looking dry.