A plan to help shore up the Colorado River by cutting off water to alfalfa fields in California’s crop-rich Imperial Valley is finding support among water managers and farmers. The Imperial Irrigation District has offered to pay farmers to temporarily shut off irrigation to forage crops including alfalfa during the summer.
FILE - A worker diverts water as a sprinkler system is installed for alfalfa at the Cox family farm Monday, Aug. 15, 2022, near Brawley, Calif. Under a new program, farmers of certain forage crops, including alfalfa, will be paid to shut off water to their fields for a short period of time during the hot summer months, which are not peak times for the crop and which won’t affect its long-term viability.
Hay exporters are struggling with the strong U.S. dollar and some overseas markets are willing to take a lower quality product than the top notch hay grown in the United States, especially in the Imperial Valley, Arnold said.which provides water to 40 million people in seven U.S. states, parts of Mexico and more than two dozen Native American tribes — and saw water levels decline during a punishing drought.
The district had proposed to roll out the program in the spring but faced delays over environmental concerns including the fate of the tiny, endangered, which thrives on irrigation runoff. Environmental approvals are still pending but the district opted to sign up takers for the program now to save time, Shields said.
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