Farmers in Arizona, where demand for water is outpacing supply, will soon be the hardest hit by the so-called Drought Contingency Plan designed to prevent water shortages along the river system.
While some have applauded the mandatory water cuts pegged to go into effect in 2020, the 500 or so farmers in nearby Pinal County aren’t among them, with many of them now openly wondering how they will be able to continue producing the beef, milk, melons, beans, corn and greens they pride themselves on.
“I want to carry on my family legacy,” local farmer Jace Miller told MSN. “But day to day, I don’t even know if I’m going to have a job.”
Owner of a 1,700-acre desert farm, Miller frets over the thought of how he can possibly be expected to make do with shortages of the one thing he needs most.
Lacking deep snow in the Rocky Mountains to feed it, the Colorado River that supplies more than 40 million people and 1.75 million acres of irrigated land has dwindled, with reservoirs now only half-filled and expected to grow even shallower going forward.
All the while, desert populations are on the rise, with Phoenix attracting more new residents than any other U.S. city in 2018.
To get to Miller’s farm, river water is pumped for more than 200 miles along the Central Arizona Project canal.
Julie Murphree of the Arizona Farm Bureau argues all the extra effort is worth it.
“Farmers, ranchers, and dairymen may use more water than the cities, but they do so to produce food and fiber that the state consumes,” she said.
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