In the past five years, there has been a conspicuous increase in the number of integrated part-farm irrigation schemes in the Upper Darling Region of New South Wales. The main characteristics of 26 such schemes are described in this article. Evidence remains of a number of older irrigation installations along the Darling River. Some suggestions are made about the reasons why these earlier schemes failed. These are - (a) Failure of returns to justify the cash and opportunity costs, (b) Increasing labour costs, (c) Erratic water supply, (d) The effects of occasional, severe flooding, and (e) Agronomic problems. Several of these factors are still operative, and may cause difficulties with the present schemes.