Irrigation scheduling could reduce the amount of water used to irrigate crops and help to achieve water balance in the piedmont of Mount Taihang on the North China Plain (NCP), where the two staple crops are winter wheat and summer corn. A study at the Chinese Academy of Sciences Eco-Agro-System Experimental Station in Luancheng on the NCP investigated the effect of different irrigation regimes on grain yield and water use efficiency (WUE) in these crops. Irrigation schedules for maximum yield or WUE were established. Yield and WUE did not appear to be linearly related to total evapotranspiration. Maximum profit from a crop was obtained using less water than was needed for maximum yield. High yield, efficient use of water and a net profit from winter wheat were achieved using one, two and three irrigations (60 mm of water per irrigation) in wet, normal and dry years, respectively. Thus, the general practice of irrigating winter wheat four times during the growth period could be changed to irrigating one to three times a year, depending on the rainfall during the winter growing season, a practice that would greatly reduce supplemental water use.