By Elizabeth Whitman | Phoenix New Times
As Arizona nears a federal deadline to finalize an agreement over cuts to its Colorado River water, a new study highlights the economic implications of these losses for one particular group: Pinal County farmers.
The study was published in late December by economists at the University of Arizona and commissioned by two Pinal County irrigation districts. Its findings are not so much groundbreaking as they are well-timed, because the Arizona legislature needs to sign off on the Colorado River agreement, known as the Drought Contingency Plan, by January 31, or the federal government will step in.
“What we wanted to present was, ‘Here’s the lay of the land. Here’s how agriculture and agribusiness fit in the county economy,’” said George Frisvold, a professor at the University of Arizona. He is a co-author of the study, along with Ashley Kerna Bickel and Dari Duval, who are economic impact analysts at the University of Arizona.
The study looked not only at on-farm sales but at the “ripple” of economic activity from agriculture. This includes industries like insurance, banking, and fertilizer manufacturing that provide services and goods to farmers; downstream industries like food manufacturing; and the economic activity that those farmers generate when they or their employees spend their income on, say, going out to eat or buying new clothes.
