[Mike from back east]

Originally Posted by tijlover

I don't feel an iota of sympathy for the Ag farmers, they've had plenty of time to change over to drip irrigation like its done in Israel. Flooding the crops with water? How archaic and what a waste of water!

Yes, by going with drip irrigation it will increase the price of produce, but if the Ag farmers want to survive there's no other choice.

I like drip irrigation. Some homeowners used it in COLO SGPS as it saves so much water as compared to the usual sprayers that users are exempt when water restrictions have to be imposed.

It's begs the question of whether the costs to convert to drip is totally on the grower or should it be at least partly funded by the taxpayer as a way to avoid other taxpayer costs to build more dams and pipelines. If a farmer is growing for Wal-Mart I'm sure they have little money left for anything....

[Code Stemi]

Originally Posted by WestieJeff

The Colorado River Compact expires in 2026

The Colorado River Compact doesn't expire in 2026; the current version of the legal agreement that governs the river, does.

[JonathanLB]

Originally Posted by tijlover

I don't feel an iota of sympathy for the Ag farmers, they've had plenty of time to change over to drip irrigation like its done in Israel. Flooding the crops with water? How archaic and what a waste of water!

Yes, by going with drip irrigation it will increase the price of produce, but if the Ag farmers want to survive there's no other choice.

I have zero sympathy for them either, or any other moron who tries to grow crops in the middle of a desert or area where there’s clearly not enough water. Your business model is bad. If it relies on things out of your control completely, sucks for you, then the greatest thing that happens is the capitalist system says it’s time for your death. You can go make another company and be reborn elsewhere. But you don’t get to whine about it. Agriculture uses virtually all of the water and a lot of it, nobody cares about anyway.

[RationalExpectations]

Originally Posted by WestieJeff

The Colorado River Compact expires in 2026 which is likely going to adjust water rights for everyone drawing from the CO river shed. The CO river is over allocated and reductions will need to be made.

Actually, the Colorado River Compact itself does not expire in 2026. The thing that expires in 2026 is something else - The Colorado River Interim Guidelines for Lower Basin Shortages and the Coordinated Operations for Lake Powell and Lake Mead, signed 2007.

https://www.usbr.gov/lc/region/progr...ofDecision.pdf

Originally Posted by WestieJeff

Water rights are a man made construct which need to be adjusted if nature does not cooperate, which is exactly what we are seeing.

Understood. Still:

In 2008, Southern Nevada Water Authority General Manager Pat Mulroy said that she does not support a water reallocation. This is because all of the states in the river basin have experienced growth she says that it is unlikely that Nevada's allocation would increase, and it could even decrease.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colorado_River_Compact

Any reallocation will end up in federal court, of course, and most likely at SCOTUS. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arizona_v._California.

[apple92680]

Originally Posted by JonathanLB

I have zero sympathy for them either, or any other moron who tries to grow crops in the middle of a desert or area where there’s clearly not enough water. Your business model is bad. If it relies on things out of your control completely, sucks for you, then the greatest thing that happens is the capitalist system says it’s time for your death. You can go make another company and be reborn elsewhere. But you don’t get to whine about it. Agriculture uses virtually all of the water and a lot of it, nobody cares about anyway.

Be careful what you wish for! If you want to shut down farming in Imperial County and start importing all of your produce from the Willamette Valley in Oregon to local grocery stores in Las Vegas, then get ready to pay much higher prices!

Then, again, that's "capitalism", right?

[RationalExpectations]

Originally Posted by Mike from back east

I like drip irrigation. Some homeowners used it in COLO SGPS as it saves so much water as compared to the usual sprayers that users are exempt when water restrictions have to be imposed.

There is substantial ongoing maintenance of such systems. You need to check the drippers all the time, looking for clogged & failed drippers and replace them. Just yesterday I found a dripper that was detached from its feed tube, so the feed tube is pouring water.

For a residence, handling the above is acceptable. You have to do it yourself, as weekly landscape maintenance people don't have the time; they just wait for a plant to look sickly or die and then replace it.

For a commercial operation, the labor costs of all that maintenance would be significant.

Originally Posted by Mike from back east

It's begs the question of whether the costs to convert to drip is totally on the grower or should it be at least partly funded by the taxpayer as a way to avoid other taxpayer costs to build more dams and pipelines. If a farmer is growing for Wal-Mart I'm sure they have little money left for anything....

There I disagree. Instead of subsidizing the transition of the irrigation system, the farmer should react to the price of water & change the CROP. For example, it makes little economic sense for Imperial Valley farmers to use large allocations of price-subsidized water to farm grass sod. That grass sod can be grown where water is plentiful and inexpensive.

[RationalExpectations]

Originally Posted by apple92680

Be careful what you wish for! If you want to shut down farming in Imperial County and start importing all of your produce from the Willamette Valley in Oregon to local grocery stores in Las Vegas, then get ready to pay much higher prices!

Then, again, that's "capitalism", right?

Most of Imperial Valley agriculture isn't for direct human-consumption produce, despite what the marketing arms of the local government highlight. Most of the Imperial Valley is for grass sod, cotton (!!!), and produce used as a factor of production (say, sugar beets sent to refineries).

Moreover, the only reason the Imperial Valley exists as an agricultural area is because of its allocation of water. If, instead of allocation, its farmers had to compete for water paying the market price, they would switch to low use crops or fold.