Irrigation development potential in Colorado

Draft report; not for general distribution.May 1977.Includes bibliographical references (pages 67-70).The primary purpose of this report is to project potential crop production levels for irrigated agriculture in Colorado. This report estimates the gains in water supply that could be achieved by improving the efficiency of water use on currently irrigated lands. For this purpose, improved irrigation management, ditch lining, and new irrigation systems were considered as means of increasing water use efficiency in agriculture. The state of Colorado was divided into eight regions for purposes of this study. These regions correspond to river subbasins within the state.Funds provided by the Department of Natural Resources, State of Colorado, U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, and the Colorado State University Experiment Station

THE EFFECT OF STOCHASTIC IRRIGATION DEMANDS AND SURFACE WATER SUPPLIES ON ON-FARM WATER MANAGEMENT

This study presents a procedure for simultaneously addressing stochastic input demands and resource supplies for irrigated agriculture within a linear modeling framework. Specifically, the effect of stochastic crop net irrigation requirements and streamflow supplies on irrigation water management is examined. Irrigators pay a self-protection cost, in terms of water management decisions, to increase the probability that stochastic crop water demand is satisfied and anticipated water supply is available. Self-protection cost is lower when increasing the probability that anticipated water supplies are delivered, ceteris paribus, than when increasing the probability that the crop receives full net irrigation requirement in the study region.Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

WATER MANAGEMENT POLICIES FOR STREAMFLOW AUGMENTATION IN AN IRRIGATED RIVER BASIN

The value of maintaining a minimum streamflow objective on average is lessened when there is considerable dispersion around the average. An integrated economic and hydrology model is presented which provides water policy planners with a way to accurately measure both the economic cost and hydrologic consequences of maintaining a minimum streamflow level in an irrigated river basin at alternative probabilities of maintaining the target flow level. Water markets for streamflow augmentation are shown to be the most cost-effective policy in the study area.Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

IMPACTS OF ENERGY COST INCREASES ON IRRIGATED LAND VALUES

Irrigation development in the Pacific Northwest expanded rapidly during the 1960s and 1970s when economic conditions, including very cheap electricity for pumping water, were favorable for this activity. Thousands of acre of land were irrigated that required lifting water 400 feet or more. The cost of energy for irrigation pumping has risen as much as 400% in recent years, and many of these high pump lift farms are in serious economic difficulty. This study shoes that farms with pump lifts exceeding 400 feet will not be able to replace capital irrigation equipment to remain in production in the long run. Land values on these farms will be determined by dryland production alternatives leaving no rents to sustain the incentive for irrigation.Land Economics/Use, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

THE SECONDARY ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF IRRIGATION DEVELOPMENT IN WASHINGTON

Two potential projects in Washington are examined for their secondary impacts on the economy of the state. A major impact of these projects is to increase the energy costs to regional power consumers. After accounting for the negative impacts of rising energy costs, the long run state level residual income increases by $209 million after irrigating an additional 700,000acres. The distribution of potential benefits is uneven among sectors of the economy and some sectors will possibly experience substantial decreases in returns to stockholder equity as a result of irrigation expansion.Community/Rural/Urban Development, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

ECONOMICS OF WATER QUALITY IMPROVEMENT IN AN IRRIGATED RIVER BASIN

Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

The 1961 Feed-Grain Program - What Did Farmers Think of It?

Why did or didn\u27t Iowa farmers take part in the 1961 Feed-Grain Program? A follow-up survey in 12 north-central and south-central counties reveals reasons and some farmer opinions of the program and of possible changes

A programming analysis of interregional competition and surplus capacity of American agriculture

This study is the third in a series dealing with interregional adjustments of agricultural production and land use.2 While prior studies dealt mainly with benchmark situations in 1954, the current study emphasizes interregional competition and surplus agricultural capacity estimated to exist in 1965. The emphasis is on interregional allocations of production for wheat, feed grains, cotton and soybeans and on the flow of products among consuming regions in a manner (a) to provide an optimal United States use of resources and (b) to mesh production exactly with consumption and export requirements. The analysis is made by several linear-programming models and solutions which include up to 962 equations and 2,682 real variables. Studies dealing with the interregional adjustment of agricultural production are needed for several reasons. An important need is a better assessment of the nation\u27s surplus producing capacity in order that long-run solutions might be provided for output, price and income problems. Long-run solutions generally would require adjustment of agriculture in line with the comparative advantage of the many individual producing regions. Some regions would remain in production of cotton, wheat, feed grains and soybeans (the crops included in this study); other regions would need to shift to less intensive uses, such as grazing and forestry. Research is needed to identify regions that might be expected to orient their resources in each of these directions. Educational, capital and income policies might then be directed accordingly