Colorado Voices
Water to water, dust to dust in the Arkansas Valley
Clip | 4m 4sVideo has Closed Captions
Agriculturists unite with ag workers to sustain farms and farm towns in the Arkansas Valley
Water has become a precious commodity in the Arkansas Valley, spurring collaborations between researchers at the Arkansas Valley Research Center and local farmers to sustain farmlands and the small communities they support
Colorado Voices
Water to water, dust to dust in the Arkansas Valley
Clip | 4m 4sVideo has Closed Captions
Water has become a precious commodity in the Arkansas Valley, spurring collaborations between researchers at the Arkansas Valley Research Center and local farmers to sustain farmlands and the small communities they support
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Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorship[water flowing] Well, water waters always the elephant in the room right now.
The water situation sometimes theres too much, and sometimes there's not enough.
[ground cracking] There's all kinds of levels of who has the right to the water.
The difficulty is when that water leaves this valley, then we you lose productive farm ground.
Agriculture is the background of these communities, and when we lose water, we lose part of that backbone, and we lose part of what makes this a productive, great place to live.
Water rights in Colorado... very complicated.
You typically bought a piece of ground, I mean, it came with irrigation water in this area, so you had the right to that water.
As metropolitan areas grow, their need for water grows, and so they have to go and find sources of water.
And so municipalities have come to this area and purchased water.
Because of a sale, farmers have given up that land right to use the water that was designated for that ground, and now it's going to a municipality.
The community of Ordway and Crowley County, it used to be called “The Garden Spot of Colorado.” It had produced like this area does.
And it's only 12 miles to the north of here.
And it's only 12 miles to the north of here.
They sold off a lot of their water, and the businesses that were associated with that, like equipment dealers and packing houses equipment dealers and packing houses and things like that are gone, and those jobs are gone because of water.
A dollar spent by the American farmer turns over in the community seven times.
If agriculture dies in our area, our communities will die right along with it.
So if we retain ownership, it'll maintain our tax basis for the schools, our fire department, our roads.
Water does generate revenue here in this, this little town, this little valley.
We usually pack, 150, 180,000 cartons of cantaloupe.
A lot of people come here to work.
Youre bringing in 200, 300 people that aren't here usually.
That income, it just trickles down to the grocery stores, the liquor stores, the convenience stores.
It really gives a boost to the local economy.
I have a commitment in a way because we are the oldest family in town.
I'm the fifth generation.
I have two sons that are currently working with me, so hopefully they'll be the sixth generation that takes it over.
We want to to continue to thrive here, but its tough with all the struggles that we have to go through.
This will be year three of working with cowpeas in this area.
And so were in the process of selecting down to find the best varieties for this area.
We're really focusing on the benefits that cowpeas provide as far as soil health goes, in connection with reducing the amount of water.
This is an agricultural experiment station overseen by Colorado State University.
Our mission is really to support our local growers and our local producers however we can to help them be more sustainable and more profitable.
So whether it's looking at crops that use less water because they have less water available, or things that we can introduce that might be new crops in the area.
We're very willing to do offsite collaborations with growers.
We're actually partnered right now on a cowpea trial.
We want to see the drought resistance on some varieties.
And if this is a drought-tolerant crop, itll give not only ourselves, but other farmers in the area a beneficial crop to grow in drought years.
Thats what were looking for.
Some nights, me and my wife, we contemplate, “Is this the struggle we want our kids to have?” My dream is if my boys want to do it, they have the opportunity to do it, and I think theres so many farmers that are in the same boat on that aspect.
And, its... its gonna be tough if we ever lose it.
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