From The Pueblo Chieftain (Chris Woodka):
Water users have stopped talking solely about Colorado’s municipal gap and are beginning to focus on agriculture. “The demand for ag water is not just about growing crops,” said James Pritchett, economics professor at Colorado State University-Fort Collins. “There are a lot of spillover benefits of value to other sectors of the economy.”
Pritchett was one of several speakers Wednesday at the annual Arkansas River Basin Water Forum. More than 100 attended. The theme of the conference is “Tributaries to Change.” Agriculture is no longer the prevalent economic driver for the Arkansas Valley, as it was a century ago, but still it provides more than $1 billion in direct sales, 10,000 jobs and $160 million in payroll for the valley, Pritchett said. In addition, the water used in irrigated agriculture also has secondary benefits to fishing, boating and wildlife habitat as it flows from the mountains to fields, he added.
With challenges such as drought and increasing demand for municipal water, the challenge for Arkansas Valley farmers will be to grow more valuable crops. Pritchett said crops sold outside the basin benefit the valley more because they bring money into the area that can be reinvested in main street purchases.
In the South Platte basin, the change of water rights ownership to municipalities has driven some farmers to grow more valuable crops, said Bob Sakata, a Brighton farmer and member of the Colorado Agricultural Water Alliance. Sakata primarily grows onions, but decreasing water availability has decreased the variety of other produce crops once grown on the family farms. He pointed out that state farmers today use 15 percent less water than in 1980, but grow 70 percent more food. Other factors like the cost of fuel, equipment, labor and regulation also play a part in farm decisions. “It’s about more than just the water,” he said.