Much of southern Arizona farming is cotton./Flickr
Opinion: It’s time for Arizona farmers and ranchers to make bold changes, if they want to survive the ‘new normal’ of water scarcity.
By Gary Nabhan | Arizona Republic
A profound reduction in the Colorado River water earmarked for Arizona’s crops has at last triggered the rationing that irrigation farmers have dreaded. The Tier 1 shortage will prompt a 512,000-acre-foot reduction in Arizona’s Colorado River deliveries.
That amounts to about 30% of Central Arizona Project’s normal supply. Extrapolating from University of Arizona studies, it will result in a decrease of about $100 million in farmgate sales, and much more if the indirect effects are fully factored in.
If your own access to water – or your annual income – was cut by nearly a third, I’d guess you would call that a crisis. In Pinal County alone, this will immediately trigger the loss of 500 jobs.
That is only the start of the agricultural disruptions brought on by climatic changes.
No one wants to mandate these changes
