On-farm strategies for deficit or limited irrigation to maximize operational profit potential in Colorado's South Platte Basin
Date
2010
Authors
Smith, Stephen W., author
U.S. Committee on Irrigation and Drainage, publisher
Journal Title
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Abstract
Farming, in many ways, is more complex and technically demanding than ever before. Just one example of this complexity is related to the population growth along the Front Range of Colorado and within the South Platte Basin. Municipalities, desperate to identify and solidify their future water supplies that will sustain continued population growth and produce a "safe yield" of water are frequently looking toward agriculture as a water supply source. Often enough, farms are acquired outright and the water rights are parted off 100% to be changed over to municipal use. This is often referred to as "buy and dry." The purpose of this paper is to show that successful farming operations can be continued while benefiting from a proportional parting-off of the water right's established consumptive use (CU). The CU of a given water right is established through an engineering study which evaluates and details the historic use of the water right. Historic cropping patterns, acreages, and irrigation methods must be considered in the study. Once the CU is established and vetted through the Colorado Water Court, the CU for that water right becomes decreed – a known quantity. This then allows for more comprehensive consideration as to how that CU water might be used to economic advantage in the future. Specifically, a future water use might be to continue farming but to lease or sell a proportion of the CU to municipal interests. This same general idea might also apply to a ditch company getting involved in planning, controlling, and administering an overall service-area-wide program. Once actual CU water quantification is fully understood, consideration can be given to a comprehensive package of farming practices which become the underpinning of future agriculture operations for farmers interested in availing themselves of such a change. Practices may include changes to cropping patterns, consideration of alternative crops, deficit irrigation, improved irrigation application efficiencies, and improved management and monitoring / control using the newest technologies. Optimization software is under development to assist farmers and ditch companies as they consider the viability of operational changes.
Description
Presented at Meeting irrigation demands in a water-challenged environment: SCADA and technology: tools to improve production: a USCID water management conference held on September 28 - October 1, 2010 in Fort Collins, Colorado.