The construction of a weir in 1936, where the Lachlan River breaks the Jemalong Range, sparked the initiation of irrigation in the Jemalong District. The existing Water Conservation and Irrigation Commission of New South Wales opened the Jemalong and Wyldes Plains Irrigation District and water was made available to 81 farms b, 1941 . During September 1951 subdivisions of about 565 hectares were made available by ballot by the WarService Land Settlement Board. Water was supplied by existing channels. Jemalong Wyldes Plains Irrigation District was privatised in March 1995 to become Jemalong Irrigation District, managed by Jemalong Irrigation Limited.

Jemalong Irrigation Limited is an unlisted public company controlled by a board of directors. The company diverts on average, more than 40 000 megalitres of water from the Lachlan River each year to 119 shareholders within the district. The district comprises more than 96 000 hectares of farming land of varying soil types capable of supporting a wide range of cropping and livestock enterprises.