Farmers use irrigation to mitigate drought risk and reduce yield uncertainty. A clear understanding of the monetary value of irrigation water and how it varies across time and space can help to inform farmers and policymakers about the potential impacts of water shortages and reduce uncertainty in decision making. Here, we introduce a framework for understanding the economic value of water used to produce corn in the central High Plains region during the period 2010–2017. Our analysis uses publicly available data for corn price and for irrigated and non-irrigated yields and incorporates irrigation requirement adjustments to account for the hydrologic balance. The findings suggest that the per unit value of irrigation water is highest not during severe droughts and not in more arid areas of the study region, but rather when and where irrigation can make the largest improvements to average crop productivity. Policy changes informed by these results might help to mitigate the impacts of future droughts on agriculture, especially in areas where climate change may lead to large increases in supplemental irrigation.

农民使用灌溉来减轻干旱风险并减少产量的不确定性。清楚了解灌溉水的货币价值及其随时间和空间的变化，有助于让农民和决策者了解水资源短缺的潜在影响，并减少决策中的不确定性。在这里，我们引入了一个框架，用于了解 2010 年至 2017 年期间中部高平原地区用于生产玉米的水的经济价值。我们的分析使用玉米价格以及灌溉和非灌溉产量的公开数据，并结合灌溉需求调整来说明水文平衡。研究结果表明，灌溉水的单位价值最高不是在严重干旱期间，也不是在研究区域的较干旱地区，而是何时何地灌溉可以最大程度地提高平均作物生产力。基于这些结果的政策变化可能有助于减轻未来干旱对农业的影响，特别是在气候变化可能导致补充灌溉大量增加的地区。