Irrigation Management Research Needs in an Era of Changing Water Use Priorities

With growing competition for water, increased environmental constraints and a weak economic picture for agriculture, there has been growing concern about the future of the irrigation industry in both the western United States and the prairie provinces of Canada. In this paper I argue that irrigation research is a major reason the industry has successfully weathered troubled times in the past and that a properly focused research program can also be very helpful in addressing future challenges. I further argue, however, that the research programs in both the United States and Canada must be refocused if we are to effectively and efficiently meet these challenges.Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

The Cost of Reducing Irrigation

For several decades Nebraska has proudly and appropriately regarded irrigation development as an important source of economic growth. However, in some parts of the state we now have too much of a good thing! To meet our Compact obligations to Kansas and Colorado in the Republican Basin and to comply with the proposed Cooperative Agreement for the Platte Basin we must find a way to consume less irrigation water. The cost of reducing irrigation and the equity implications will depend on what methods the state uses to achieve this objective. We recently estimated the costs to irrigators and to the state budget of using different policies to reduce consumptive use (CU) of irrigation water in the Platte and Republican Basins (Supalla, 2006). The policy methods considered were: leased retirement of irrigated land using a willing buyer-willing seller approach; required land retirement with lease payments equal to actual producer losses; retirement of irrigated land by purchasing water rights using a willing buyer-willing seller approach; forced permanent retirement of irrigated land with compensation equal to actual market value; allocation with 100 percent producer compensation; and allocation with 50 percent producer compensation. Both long and short-term programs were considered with the reduced consumptive use occurring at different locations within each basin

The Cost of Reducing Irrigation

For several decades Nebraska has proudly and appropriately regarded irrigation development as an important source of economic growth. However, in some parts of the state we now have too much of a good thing! To meet our Compact obligations to Kansas and Colorado in the Republican Basin and to comply with the proposed Cooperative Agreement for the Platte Basin we must find a way to consume less irrigation water. The cost of reducing irrigation and the equity implications will depend on what methods the state uses to achieve this objective. We recently estimated the costs to irrigators and to the state budget of using different policies to reduce consumptive use (CU) of irrigation water in the Platte and Republican Basins (Supalla, 2006). The policy methods considered were: leased retirement of irrigated land using a willing buyer-willing seller approach; required land retirement with lease payments equal to actual producer losses; retirement of irrigated land by purchasing water rights using a willing buyer-willing seller approach; forced permanent retirement of irrigated land with compensation equal to actual market value; allocation with 100 percent producer compensation; and allocation with 50 percent producer compensation. Both long and short-term programs were considered with the reduced consumptive use occurring at different locations within each basin

Importance of “Who Pays” as an Environmental Policy Variable

Environmental goods and services often have characteristics which make it necessary to publicly provide them at no direct cost to the users or beneficiaries. With environmental goods and services, or more generally public goods, charging people for the product in a private market context is usually inefficient because of low marginal costs, and often not possible because those who don’t pay for the good cannot be excluded from its benefits. As a result, historically most environmental goods have been publicly provided via public investment, law, regulatory action or some combination of regulatory and investment programs

Review of \u3ci\u3e Natural Resource and Environmental Economics\u3c/i\u3e by Tony Prato

This upper-division or beginning graduate-level text addresses the economics of a broad range of natural resource and environmental issues in a style suitable for a wide range of students interested in natural resource policy. Economics students will find the subject matter a bit easier to grasp than biologists, engineers, or political scientists, but it should pose no problem for anyone who has taken a course in micro-economics and perhaps knows a bit of differential calculus. The book\u27s content and organization are somewhat different from most texts in resource economics. There is greater emphasis here on the economic concepts associated with all dimensions of natural resource management, but this comes at the expense of examples and a sufficient emphasis on the practical aspects of empirical analysis. There are also a few organizational anomalies that may be inconsistent with the way resource economics is often taught. The most notable is Prato\u27s decision to treat property rights and market failure as a distinctly separate topic in chapter 5 rather than an integral part of the economic conceptual framework described in chapter 2

SLIDES: An Update on Management of the Northern Ogallala

Presenter: Raymond Supalla, Department of Agricultural Economics, University of Nebraska. 37 slides

WELFARE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN GROSS WATER PUMPED AND CONSUMPTIVE USE AS ALTERNATIVE POLICY CONTROL VARIABLES TO MEET AQUIFER MANAGEMENT OBJECTIVES

The welfare cost of using gross water pumped instead of consumptive use as a control variable to meet consumptive use goal was estimated for Southwestern Nebraska. The results show that the widespread use of gross water as a policy control variable substantially overstates the welfare cost of reducing consumptive use.Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Economics of Management Options for Lake McConaughy

The amount of water stored in Lake McConaughy reached a historical low in the Fall of 2004 and again in 2006. In 2005 and 2006 CNPPID irrigators received less than a full supply of Lake McConaughy water for the first time since the system came on line over 60 years ago. Electric power interests, recreation interests and the regional economy have also been adversely affected by low water levels. What, if anything should the State of Nebraska do to minimize the adverse impacts from this situation and/or prevent it from developing again in the future? The most critical policy issue concerns the potential effects of diminished water supplies on irrigation, hydropower, recreation resources and the regional economy. The policy choices consist of leaving more water in Lake McConaughy during drought periods, reducing upstream groundwater irrigation, and investments to provide directly for regional economic development. Economists at UNL recently analyzed the effects of Lake McConaughy management options on the different water using groups and on the regional economy (Supalla et al., 2006)

NF96-290 Irrigation Management Practices in Nebraska

This NebFact has information on a variety of new irrigation practices