A plan to replenish the Colorado River could mean dry alfalfa fields. And many farmers are for it

A plan to shore up the depleted Colorado River by cutting off water to alfalfa fields in California’s Imperial Valley, where much of the alfalfa is grown, is gaining support from the farmers who grow it.

The Imperial Irrigation District — the largest user of water from the 1,450-mile (2,334-kilometer) river — has offered to pay farmers to turn off irrigation for forage crops, including alfalfa, for up to 60 days during the height of the sultry summer. While farmers often balk at the idea of ​​letting fields lie fallow, at least 80 percent of properties eligible for the new program have signed up to participate, said Tina Shields, the district’s water department manager.

“We don’t like to sit here and be idle,” Shields said. “They’re making business decisions.”

The move comes after farmers who grow alfalfa and other crops that feed livestock have seen the price of hay plummet amid rising supplies. For many, that means a summer alfalfa harvest could yield less revenue than the $300 in federal funding per acre-foot of water that water districts are willing to pay if they simply stop watering, experts said.

From California to Arkansas, farmers have had an excellent hay year and many are still looking for buyers or deciding whether it’s worth paying money for storage, said Sue Arnold, executive director of the National Hay Association in Ohio.

“They have a lot more hay than they normally have this time of year, so their barns are full,” she said of the organization’s members. “They’re afraid, ‘I’m going to have all this inventory.'”

Hay exporters are struggling because of the strong U.S. dollar and some overseas markets are willing to accept lower-quality product than the premium hay grown in the United States, especially in the Imperial Valley, Arnold said.

The idea of ​​paying farmers to stop irrigating came about last year as part of a agreement between Arizona, Nevada and California to help the shrinking Colorado River, which supplies water to 40 million people in seven U.S. states, parts of Mexico and more than two dozen Native American tribes — and saw water levels drop during a debilitating drought.

Under the plan, the federal government agreed to spend $1.2 billion to help users temporarily reduce their water use. The goal was to save an additional 3 million acre-feet of water, more than half of which would come from California, by 2026, when current guidelines for how the river is shared expire.

The Imperial Irrigation District, the largest user of water from California’s Colorado River, has created a voluntary program for farmers to temporarily stop watering alfalfa, Bermuda grass or baby grass during the summer — crops that can go dry for short periods. The idea is to do this when summer yields are already down, more water is needed and dairies are keeping their head counts low.

The district had proposed rolling out the program in the spring, but faced delays due to environmental concerns, including the fate of the small, endangered desert pupfishthat thrives on irrigation runoff. Environmental approvals are still pending, but the district has opted to enroll participants in the program now to save time, Shields said.

So far, about 170 different companies have signed up for the program, representing nearly 160,000 acres (64,750 hectares) of fields, which could save about 215,000 acre feet of water, she said.

Trevor Tagg, a hay farmer in the Imperial Valley, is one of many who are buying into the program. He said alfalfa prices have fallen over the past two years as supply has increased and farmers have little choice but to keep growing fields in the hope that prices will rise in the future. He said he and many others sat down and did the math: What the water district is offering is a better shot than what he can get now by cutting the crop.

A few years ago he said a ton of hay would bring $400, but now it might only bring $100.

“The pendulum is really swinging hard,” he said. “It’s been really tough. You see farms on the verge of bankruptcy — a lot of them.”

Tough times force farmers to make tough choices, and turning off the water for a month or two is seen as a better option than letting fields lie fallow for longer and ruining the local economy, where equipment suppliers and local restaurants also rely on farming for their livelihoods. About a quarter of Imperial County’s agricultural production comes from field crops, according to a county agricultural report.

“It keeps us going for another day of farming,” Tagg said. “It supports the river, it supports Lake Mead. It supports everything we’re trying to do.”

“It’s not perfect for anyone,” he said.