The 30 per cent cut in Colorado River water that the federal government ordered for Arizona on 21 August will spare the state's farmers for now, but water managers and farm leaders warn that deeper cuts after two years could reach the Yuma-area growers who supply most of the nation's winter leafy greens.

The reprieve rests on seniority. Farms around Yuma hold water rights senior to almost everyone else's in Arizona, and growers on the Central Arizona Project canal already absorbed cuts a few years ago. The order reduces Arizona's share of the river by 760,000 acre-feet a year through 2028 — enough to supply Phoenix for about four years — with the CAP bearing much of the burden.

The Bureau of Reclamation will revisit the drought-era allocations after next winter. If the Rocky Mountain snowpack matches last winter's, deeper cuts are likely and could spread to Yuma. Tom Buschatzke, director of the Arizona Department of Water Resources, estimated that Yuma farmers could lose 30 per cent of their river water if the drought continues and the bureau enforces rights strictly by seniority, since Arizona's rank below California's and Nevada's. "Those are draconian impacts to Arizonans," he told Cronkite News. "That's an unacceptable outcome to the state of Arizona."

The stakes go well beyond the state. Yuma-area farms supply about 90 per cent of the leafy greens eaten in the United States and Canada from October to April, according to the Yuma Fresh Vegetable Association, and generated US$1.5 billion in sales in 2022, by US Department of Agriculture figures. Agriculture uses about 72 per cent of Arizona's water, the University of Arizona's Water Resource Center says.

John Boelts, president of the Arizona Farm Bureau, farms 3,000 acres of vegetables, melons, wheat and cotton near Yuma. "While we feel that there's some certainty given by the two-year plan, agriculture still has plenty to worry about," he said. In central Arizona most CAP-supplied farmers lost access around 2023 and turned to groundwater, some fallowing half their land. Brian Wong, president of BKW Farms in Marana, can irrigate through 2027 by trading groundwater credits with municipalities. "It's a changing dynamic on the Colorado River," he said.

AGDAILY says the article was prepared with automated tools and human research and verified by its editorial team.

Photo: Jeff Vanuga, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service / Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)

Source: AGDAILY