Here’s a look at agriculture in the Arkansas Valley, from Chris Woodka writing for The Pueblo Chieftain. From the article:
With less water available, there might be a return to the type of crops that were once more prolific in the Arkansas Valley: melons, vegetables and fruits. Those crops generally take less water than the hay and grain grown for livestock feed that now dominate the landscape east of Pueblo in an era when cities are claiming a larger share of water that could be less plentiful if the climate changes in ways predicted by some models. “We really, as a community, need to take a better interest. There are health benefits to eating locally grown food that don’t show up on water department spreadsheets,” said Mike Bartolo, manager of the Colorado State University Arkansas Valley Research Center at Rocky Ford. “And there will be things happening in the future of agriculture that we can’t even envision today.”
Bartolo has spent 20 years at the research center, coordinating many studies of new ways to make farming more profitable — “looking for the perfect pepper.” The valley’s climate helps sugar production in fruits and vegetables, but has always needed the help of irrigation water to nurture the crops. Events over the years have conspired to reduce the production of fruits and vegetables, however. Crowley County once was famous for its cantaloupes and orchards. The Arkansas Valley once was the top green bean producer in the state. Sugar beets were a major crop for communities up and down the valley. But as sugar beet factories and canneries closed, farmers found ready buyers in the form of Colorado’s second and third largest cities — Colorado Springs and Aurora — to buy the water rig
Click through to read Mr. Woodka’s short bio of Mr. Bartolo.
More Arkansas River basin coverage here.