An agreement was recently reached by California, Arizona, and Nevada to conserve 3 million acre-feet of Colorado River water until 2026 to safeguard their drinking water supply. However, this conservation effort has put a spotlight on the particularly thirsty hay industry, especially forage crops such as alfalfa and Bermuda grass, which require vast quantities of water to cultivate and are used to feed livestock. Consequently, the three states agreed to pay $1.2 billion over the next three years to cities, irrigation districts, and Native American tribes to use less water, even paying many farmers not to farm.
Agriculture accounts for almost 80% of the water consumed in the Colorado River Basin annually, and alfalfa is responsible for more than a third of that consumption. Although alfalfa can produce significant amounts of protein per acre, it requires a long growing season, a deep root system, and plenty of water to maintain its leafy, dense canopy. The water-rights laws incentivize ranchers to utilize as much river water as they are allocated, leading to wasteful irrigation techniques such as flood irrigation. The same is true for central pivot sprinklers that randomly water crops in circular fashion; although less wasteful than flood irrigation, they are not as efficient as drip systems. Alfalfa, in particular, consumes nearly three times more water than the water used up by residents for showering, laundry, and lawn watering.
The Imperial Valley in California is one of the largest hay-producing regions worldwide, consuming more water than any other place in the Colorado River Basin, accounting for nearly 80% of the state’s allotment. The dry and hot Sonoran Desert poses a problem for alfalfa, which struggles under high temperatures and lack of soil moisture.
Although alfalfa is profitable and vital to agriculture in Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and other dry states, exporting a significant portion of it worldwide, experts suggest that states and the federal government need to balance the financial gains against water requirements for the Southwest’s people, ecosystems, and other crops. The federal government is still examining the agreement, and states will have to negotiate and finalize the finer points of the plan over the next several months.
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