{"id":28454,"date":"2024-03-28T01:05:35","date_gmt":"2024-03-28T07:05:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/switching-to-drought-resistant-crops-aint-pretty-but-support-for-farmers-is-there\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T00:29:56","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T06:29:56","slug":"switching-to-drought-resistant-crops-aint-pretty-but-support-for-farmers-is-there","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/switching-to-drought-resistant-crops-aint-pretty-but-support-for-farmers-is-there\/","title":{"rendered":"Switching to drought-resistant crops \u2018ain\u2019t pretty\u2019 \u2013 but support for farmers is there"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Colorado
Colorado Agriculture Commissioner Kate Greenberg speaks at the Southwestern Water Conservation District annual water seminar at the Sky Ute Casino and Resort near Ignacio. (Reuben M. Schafir\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

IGNACIO \u2013 As state negotiators haggle over who will reduce their use of the over-allocated Colorado River, the farmers who ultimately have to implement the inevitable cuts to water consumption are strategizing how to meet that challenge.<\/p>\n

Why aren\u2019t farmers just planting crops that use less water?<\/p>\n

That\u2019s what Greg Peterson, executive director of the Colorado Agriculture Water Alliance called \u201cthe big question\u201d during a panel on innovative solutions for agriculture Wednesday at the Southwestern Water Conservation District\u2019s 40th annual water seminar.<\/p>\n

Becky Mitchell, the state\u2019s top water negotiator and Colorado Commissioner of Agriculture Kate Greenberg were among those gathered at the Sky Ute Casino and Resort in Igancio for the seminar, titled \u201cFluid Horizons: Navigating the Waters of Innovation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no shortage of produce (or) grains out there that use very little water,\u201d Peterson said.<\/p>\n

But large-scale crop-switching \u201cain\u2019t pretty.\u201d<\/p>\n

New crops demand new labor skills, expensive new equipment and different processing facilities. And the market for new, water-efficient crops might be small or nonexistent.<\/p>\n

\u201c(It\u2019s a) misconception that farmers are market-makers,\u201d said Perry Cabot, a research and extension leader with Colorado State University. \u201cFarmers are market-takers.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\u201c(It\u2019s
\u201c(It\u2019s a) misconception that farmers are market-makers,\u201d said Perry Cabot, a research and extension leader with Colorado State University, at the Southwestern Water Conservation District annual water seminar Wednesday. \u201cFarmers are market-takers.\u201d (Reuben M. Schafir\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Over four years, the state has directed $30 million toward Colorado Soil Health Program, which facilitates the integration of voluntary, incentive-based solutions for soil health, Greenberg said.<\/p>\n

Greg Vlaming runs a soil health consulting business in Lewis, north of Cortez, and works with farmers to take advantage of some of the state\u2019s incentives. Farmers who install soil moisture sensors see the water-saving benefits of improved soil health, he said. The programs help purchase new equipment that minimize the number of passes a farmer must make over a field, or introduce diverse crops with different rooting characteristics.<\/p>\n

Although the financial incentives are not huge, just $5,000 in matching funds per farmer, the practices shift the paradigm and get farmers thinking more about soil health, Vlaming said.<\/p>\n

But other funding and partners are available to help, Peterson emphasized. And the support is necessary \u2013 simply asking farmers to experiment with less water-intensive crops, such as the perennial wheat grass Kernza, does not work.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re wasting everybody\u2019s time if you\u2019re saying, \u2018Hey all of you, let\u2019s go grow some Kernza,\u2019\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Instead, the entities pushing for the adoption of more drought-resistant crops need to teach farmers how to farm them. Peterson points to Colorado Mills in Lamar as an example. The company struggled for five years to teach producers to grow sunflowers for sunflower oil before the operation really succeeded.<\/p>\n

In Southwest Colorado, Ute Mountain Ute Farm and Ranch Enterprise in Towaoc has been a champion partner. The managers of the 7,700-acre farm planted 23 acres of Kernza<\/a> and 23 acres of sainfoin, a forage legume, last year.<\/p>\n

\"Eric
Eric Whyte, the hay manager for the Ute Mountain Ute Farm and Ranch Enterprise, speaks Wednesday at the Southwestern Water Conservation District annual water seminar at the Sky Ute Casino and Resort near Ignacio. (Reuben M. Schafir\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

The plot was ugly, said the farm\u2019s hay manager, Eric Whyte. The farmers are still not quite sure how to plant the seeds correctly or manage the weeds. But, Whyte said he is intent on trying again this year.<\/p>\n

Farmers such as Whyte are pioneers, Peterson said (the irony of the statement was not lost on him).<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is where we\u2019re at with alternative crops,\u201d Peterson said. \u201cIf you\u2019re willing to try, we can find the resources to really support you.\u201d<\/p>\n

rschafir@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mountain Ute farmers are leaders in agricultural community<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":28455,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[281,2547,402,28,547,295,294],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-28454","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-agriculture","tag-arable-farming","tag-drought","tag-headlines","tag-ute-mountain-ute-indian-tribe","tag-water","tag-water-supply"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28454","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28454"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28454\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":80421,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28454\/revisions\/80421"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28455"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28454"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28454"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28454"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=28454"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}