Crops grown include wheat, com, grain sorghum, soybeans, forage sorghum and alfalfa. Livestock production is an important phase of the area agriculture. Beef cattle are the predominant livestock produced in the basin. Large cattle feeding operations are common. Beef processing is also a major economic factor in the basin.
Irrigation is widespread and extremely important to the area economy.
Just under 90 percent of the basin is cropland of which about 20 percent is irrigated. All or parts of the 12 of the counties in the basin are covered by Groundwater Management District No. 3. This is a highly important water management force in the basin. The water users within the Cimarron Basin are dependent almost exclusively upon groundwater for their supplies since the flow of the surface streams is intermittent and undependable. Gas and oil production is widespread and highly important to the basin's economy.