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YELLOW JACKET \u2013 Sprouts from a volunteer crop of spring wheat in a field kept fallow during last year\u2019s drought provided a reassuring sign earlier this month for Chris Neely.<\/p>\n
\u201cLast year, the only thing that would germinate was weeds, and there was hardly enough water for them,\u201d said Neely, who farms some 1,200 acres with his father near Yellow Jacket.<\/p>\n
This year\u2019s heavy snowpack and generous spring precipitation have many farmers and ranchers in Southwest Colorado feeling more optimistic than last April, when they faced extreme drought.<\/p>\n
Neely cautions that \u201cit\u2019s still early,\u201d but he\u2019s looking forward to getting three cuttings from alfalfa, which covers 80% of the fields his father and he have under cultivation.<\/p>\n
Neely and other Dolores Project farmers are virtually assured a 100% allocation of irrigation water this year, a big change from last year, when the Dolores Water Conservancy District<\/a> had to cut allocations to 70%.<\/p>\n The Dolores Project provides irrigation water for 28,000 acres of farmland in Montezuma and Dolores counties and for 7,700 acres of farmland for the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe.<\/p>\n Mike Preston, general manager of the Dolores Water Conservancy District, said the snowpack this year is among the fourth-largest ever recorded for the Dolores River Basin, while the 2017-18 snowpack was among the fourth smallest.<\/p>\n This season, water is expected to be so plentiful, Preston said, that the conservancy district will likely be able to create water pools, which allow farmers to purchase additional irrigation water above their allocations. An additional purchase of water will likely cost about $42 an acre foot, he said.<\/p>\n Preston said with good management, water is likely to be available through early October.<\/p>\n Beyond the deep snowpack, Tom Hooten, Montezuma County extension agent, said good spring rains have helped and will continue to be important for annual crops like beans and spring grains.<\/p>\n \u201cAvailable moisture is directly related to yields,\u201d he said. \u201cThe more yield from an acre, the more profitable you are for a set price,\u201d<\/p>\n