The human use of water for irrigation is often ignored in models and operational forecasts. We describe four plausible and relatively simple irrigation routines that can be coupled to the next generation of models. The routines are tested against a unique irrigation dataset from western Nebraska. The most aggressive water-saving irrigation routine indicates a potential irrigation savings of 120 mm yr⁻¹ and yield losses of less than 3 % against the crop model benchmark and historical averages.