Agricultural Production
Agricultural Production and Water Use in Case Study Basins
We are interested in understanding how agriculture producers will respond to changes in the timing and quantity of water flows. Through this research, we hope to learn how agriculture producers' decisions regarding land use, crop choice and water use will be impacted by these climate-induced changes. Our two case study areas are the Walker River Basin in NV/CA and the South Platte River Basin in CO/WY/NE.
Photo: USGS (Walker River Basin near Bridgeport, CA)
Walker River Basin (NV)
The Walker River Basin includes parts of Lyon, Mineral, Douglas, and Churchill Counties in Nevada as well as Mono County in California. Lyon and Mineral counties are where nearly all water for irrigation from Walker River is used for agriculture. In these two counties, total agricultural sales were over $100 million in 2017. Much of this comes from cattle operations, which comprise over two thirds of total sales. Around 40 thousand acres of cropland are irrigated, and just over 100 cattle operations are run in the basin.
Water use in the basin is dominated by irrigation, with the largest use coming in Lyon County, which alone produced over $100 million in agricultural sales in 2017 (note- not all of this is produced from water from Walker River). Domestic use and mining are a distant second and third in water use. A growing portion of water is used for environmental instream flows in support of recovery initiatives at Walker Lake.
South Platte River Basin (CO)
The South Platte River Basin comprises 23 counties in Colorado, as well as parts of Wyoming and Nebraska. The three largest agriculture producers in the basin are Weld, Yuma and Morgan counties, all located in the northeastern part of the state. While the research considers all these affected counties, only the three largest producers are shown here for the sake of space. The three counties had a combined $3.5 billion in sales in 2017. Around 80% of this comes from livestock. Weld County is the largest producer, with over $2 billion in sales from roughly 4,000 farms and over a half million cattle.
The majority of water use in the S. Platte is for irrigation, while public, industrial and mining make up smaller portions to varying degrees in the different counties.
Agricultural Statistics: South Platte and Walker River Watersheds, 2017 |
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Data Item |
South Platte River Watershed |
Walker River Watershed |
Number of Farm Operations |
16,925 |
293 |
Acres of Farm Operations |
10,478,045 |
388,545 |
Number of Irrigated Farm Operations |
5,028 |
228 |
Irrigated Farmland Acres |
953,485 |
43,452 |
Acres of Cropland |
4,765,715 |
40,982 |
Acres of Pastureland (excluding cropland and woodlands) |
5,343,753 |
337,522 |
Acres of Small Grains, Wheat, Barley, Oats, and Rye Harvested |
1,001,763 |
463 |
Acres of Vegetable Production |
11,621 |
1,204 |
Number of Cattle Operations |
6,156 |
108 |
Cattle Inventory, including calves |
1,361,081 |
49,693 |
Sheep Inventory, including lambs |
204,956 |
- |
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Source: USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service Census of Agriculture 2017 |
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https://www.nass.usda.gov/Quick_Stats/CDQT/chapter/2/table/1/ |
2017 Agriculture Statistics- Nevada Counties Using Irrigation Water from Walker River Basin
Item | Mineral | Lyon |
Number of Farms | 59 | 312 |
Acres of Farms Operated | (D) | 181,354 |
Acres of Cropland | 2,168 | 65,109 |
Irrigated Acres | 1,963 | 55,753 |
Total Commodity Sales ($) | (D) | 102,703,000 |
Total Animal Sales ($) | (D) | 73,607,000 |
Number of Cattle (including calves) | 1,264 | 53,063 |
2017 Agriculture Statistics- Top 3 Agriculture Producing Counties in S. Platte River Basin
Item | Morgan | Weld | Yuma |
Number of Farms | 740 | 4,062 | 774 |
Acres of Farms Operated | 659,366 | 2,098,803 | 1,400,296 |
Acres of Cropland | 340,373 | 922,979 | 628,161 |
Irrigated Acres | 132,296 | 323,436 | 208,967 |
Total Commodity Sales ($) | 559,535,000 | 2,047,177,000 | 918,716,000 |
Total Animal Sales ($) | 469,555,000 | 1,698,529,000 | 718,895,000 |
Number of Cattle (including calves) | 223,038 | 582,267 | 265,393 |
Source: USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service Census of Agriculture 2017 https://www.nass.usda.gov/Quick_Stats/CDQT/chapter/2/table/1/
Water Use in Case Study Areas
Walker River Basin
Item | Mineral | Lyon |
Population | 4,478 | 52,585 |
Public water supply population | 4,400 | 50,888 |
Public supply per capita (gal/person/day) | 239 | 172 |
Public supply facilities | 5 | 23 |
Domestic use public supplied per capita (gal/person/day) | 141 | 140 |
Domestic use self-supplied per capita (gal/person/day) | 128 | 159 |
Public supply- self supplied withdrawals (Mgal/day) | 1.05 | 8.75 |
Industrial self and public supply total (Mgal/day) | 0 | 0.28 |
Mining total self supplied withdrawals (Mgal/day) | 0.05 | 2.03 |
Livestock self consumptive use (Mgal/day) | 0.03 | 0.6 |
Irrigation total self supplied (Mgal/day) | 9.4 | 268.29 |
Total acres in irrigation | 3,070 | 87,900 |
South Platte River Basin
Item | Morgan | Weld | Yuma |
Population | 28,360 | 285,174 | 10,146 |
Public water supply population | 26,640 | 283,060 | 6,350 |
Public supply per capita (gal/person/day) | 224 | 100 | 224 |
Public supply facilities | - | - | - |
Domestic use public supplied per capita (gal/person/day) | 136 | 95 | 140 |
Domestic use self-supplied per capita (gal/person/day) | 140 | 95 | 140 |
Public supply- self supplied withdrawals (Mgal/day) | 5.96 | 28.3 | 1.42 |
Industrial self and public supply total (Mgal/day) | 5.12 | 0.25 | 0 |
Mining total self supplied withdrawals (Mgal/day) | 0.35 | 1.18 | 0.15 |
Livestock self consumptive use (Mgal/day) | 3.29 | 8.55 | 2.72 |
Irrigation total self supplied (Mgal/day) | 122.61 | 366.35 | 323.08 |
Total acres in irrigation | 109,700 | 294,880 | 245,570 |
Source: USGS National Water Information System, 2015 Water Use Data https://waterdata.usgs.gov/nv/nwis/water_use/