Tuesday, February 11, 2025
HomeAg NewsFarms Retire Thousands of Acres in Water-Short Northeastern Colorado

Farms Retire Thousands of Acres in Water-Short Northeastern Colorado

With the help of $30M in state and federal funding, Colorado has retired some 10,000 acres of irrigated farm lands, with another 7,000 acres contracted for dry up.

Farm communities on the Eastern Plains, under the gun to deliver water to Kansas and Nebraska, are poised to permanently retire 17,000 acres of land, with the help of $30 million in state and federal funding. From Wray, to Yuma to Burlington, growers are being paid to permanently shut off irrigation wells linked to the Republican River to ensure the vital waterway can deliver enough water to neighbors to the east, as required under the Republican River Compact of 1943.

As of this month, ranchers had already retired 10,000 acres under the program, and the rest will be set aside in coming months. According to Colorado State University, it is one of the largest dry-ups of irrigated agricultural land in the West.

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