The “everything old is new again” proverb will be at play in 2026 when it comes to water trends irrigators need to know in the new year.
The Packer sat down with Melissa Lilze — who, as of Jan. 1, became senior vice president of Netafim North America, the top position for Netafim in North America, and the first woman to lead Netafim’s North America division — on the top water trends coming in 2026. Several are long-running themes from years past that will continue to dominate in the new year. Others, however, are new and potentially novel.
No. 1: Water scarcity
This one is nothing new, but Lilze notes smart water management or “digital irrigation” that involves remote sensors, automated irrigation systems and real-time monitoring of conditions such as weather, soil moisture and crop needs — once the purview of highly techy early adopters — is increasingly mainstream in the face of ongoing water scarcity.
“Today it’s more of a necessity,” she says.
This fits with both USDA records and data from The Packer’s 2025 Grower Sustainability Insights.
According to the Census of Agriculture’s most recent few Irrigation and Water Management Surveys, the number of farms and open-field acres under irrigation using drip, trickle or micro-flow sprinklers has grown since 2008, even as farm numbers and open-field acres under irrigation have fallen.
For example, in 2008, 43,368 farms (14.4% of 2007’s total irrigated farms) reported using these water-saving irrigation systems on 3.76 million acres (6.84% of total irrigated acres in 2008). In 2023, the numbers had jumped to 60,160 farms (21.14% of 2022’s total irrigated farms) and 6.43 million acres (12.11% of total irrigated acres in 2023).
The Packer’s Sustainability Insights survey responses showed similar grower attention to water conservation efforts. Water efficiency was ranked as the most important sustainability issue by produce growers, and precision irrigation ranked high on the list of sustainability investments growers are making on their operations.
No. 2: Regulations and reporting requirements
Just like water scarcity is nothing new, so too is the mounting regulatory pressure because the two are so closely intertwined.
“[Ongoing water scarcity] just changes what we will see in the next few years with regulation around water use and groundwater use,” Lilze says, pointing to regulation and reporting requirements as a major water theme in 2026.
“We have increasing regulatory pressure in different farming regions. Growers must adapt to allocation limits that they’re given, especially in the western U.S.,” she says. While California and its Sustainable Groundwater Management Act come to mind when it comes to water regulations squeezing produce growers, regulations and their attendant reporting requirements can vary wildly by state, county and even by watershed.
Lilze framed digital irrigation as helpful to irrigators regardless of the regulatory situation they find themselves in because it not only helps with water conservation efforts but documents them at the same time.
“Many times the reason you have regulation is because you don’t have the data to show that you are being conservative with the water and of your resources,” she says. “I absolutely think the more information you have available to prove that you are a steward of the land, which these farmers are, I think the better situation they’re in on the front end of things.”
No. 3: Drip irrigation expanding
Lilze reports the well-known water saving strategy of drip irrigation has been expanding into new crops, something she highlights as a trend to watch. Alfalfa is an example she’s seen with Netafim.
“With an alfalfa, we’ll do an SDI system, which is a subsurface drip irrigation system, meaning we’ll actually bury the drip 10 to 12 inches underground,” she reports. Not only has this resulted in extra cuttings and increased yields, but it has management implications as well.
“You can get into the field quicker after a cutting because we’re not having to flood irrigate,” she says.
No. 4: Return of federal funds
A welcomed “new” trend in 2026 according to Lilze is the return of federal funding for conservation and sustainability improvements, including for water.
“There’s a lot of federal funding, NRCS [National Resources Conservation Service] and EQIP [Environmental Quality Incentives Program] monies, that are available typically every year. In 2025, a lot of that money got put on hold,” she says. “We just received news that the 2026 funding will be available in January, and growers will be able to apply and access those funds for smarter, more efficient irrigation systems.”
On Dec. 15, USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service announced it was opening its first funding round of key conservation programs. This includes the Agricultural Conservation Easement Program, Agricultural Management Assistance, the Conservation Stewardship Program, the Environmental Quality Incentives Program, and the new Regenerative Pilot Program.
According to NRCS, growers, farmers and ranchers have until Jan. 15, 2026, to apply for the first batching period. National and State Conservation Innovation Grants will open later in the year.
“We’re really starting to see some light at the end of the tunnel with this funding coming,” Lilze says. “There’s been a lot of farmers that have benefited from this money over the years, and having it frozen last year really prevented a lot of new irrigation systems going in because [growers] need the funding to help with that initial year return.”
No. 5: New or untapped funding sources
In addition to the return of federal funding that can go to conservation irrigation efforts, Lilze points to other, potentially more novel or unexpected sources of funding for water sustainability projects as something irrigators should look for in 2026.
On the one hand, the “partnership economy” around water — basically, applying the carbon credit concept to water — is growing. Lilze pointed to Netafim’s Corporate Partnership Program as an example, explaining that they pair companies with high water usage with area farmers and growers who still use less efficient irrigation like flooding. The company helps fund the grower’s conversion to a drip irrigation system.
“So basically, we’d put in a drip irrigation system, we’d put our automation system out, and we can track water usage over that crop and over time, we can show the amount of water that’s been saved by investing in that drip irrigation system,” she says.
Other precision irrigation or ag tech companies have similar programs, such as Phytech and N-Drip. Though Lilze says Netafim has been “leading the charge” on developing these kinds of partnerships.
“We’ve been successful over the last two years in matching up these companies that have this money set aside for these sustainability practices with the farmers in the region that are trying to be more efficient in their farming.”
Lilze also recommends irrigators look at other, potentially untapped local funding sources for irrigation efficiency improvements such as state, county or watershed organizations.
For example, she notes that Utah’s Department of Agriculture has a fund specifically “to help their growers become more efficient water users.” Utah growers could receive as much as $500,000 in funding for irrigation optimization efforts. Applications for the program open on Jan. 1, 2026 and run through the end of February.
“There’s plenty of state funding moving because they want people to move away from flood to drip and conserve,” Lilze says.
