“The presence of irrigation in Yuma County is directly responsible for an extra $420 million dollars being spent every year on agricultural expenses.  It is said that the rural dollar gets spent 5-7 times, so that leads to 2.5 billion dollars to the local economy. The farmer may live on the net dollar, but the community lives on the gross dollar, so what is spent on products such as equipment, fuel, fertilizer, seed, labor, and other products, maintains the local economy." - Brian Starkebaum, Project Director, presentation at the Republican River Watershed Association Legislative Tour:  

NRCS Conservation Innovation Grants

Conservation Innovation Grants (CIG) is a voluntary program intended to stimulate the development and adoption of innovative conservation approaches and technologies while leveraging Federal investment in environmental enhancement and protection, in conjunction with agricultural production. Under CIG, Environmental Quality Incentives Program funds are used to award competitive grants to non-Federal governmental or non-governmental organizations, Tribes, or individuals. CIG enables NRCS to work with other public and private entities to accelerate technology transfer and adoption of promising technologies and approaches to address some of the Nation's most pressing natural resource concerns. CIG will benefit agricultural producers by providing more options for environmental enhancement and compliance with Federal, State, and local regulations. NRCS administers CIG.

Yuma Conservation District (Colorado) - $498,000 - The Republican River Basin's Pathway Project

Agriculture in the Republican River Basin is dependent on water pumped from the Ogallala Aquifer.  With withdrawals exceeding recharge, however, groundwater levels in the region have been in decline.  The Republican River Compact Settlement Agreement of 2002 has further compromised water resources in the region, targeting 4,000 wells in Colorado for potential shutoff.  This agreement comes on the heels of a multi-year drought, forcing producers and communities in the region to recognize that unless cropping systems are shifted away from high water-use crops, a way of life is destined to come to an end.  The situation requires an immediate and large-scale shift on multiple fronts, including strategies that enable producers to successfully innovate.  The purpose of this project is to engage producers in an innovative, comprehensive, regional strategy to reduce water consumption by moving operations from high water-use crops to lower water-use crops.