ALAMOSA- Cleave Simpson, a local alfalfa farmer and general manager of the Rio Grande Water Conservation District, is fighting for the future of farming in the San Luis valley. Agriculture is under threat as water sources dwindle and valley leaders anticipate thousands of acres of irrigated crop land will dry up.
“Our community, our culture was built on irrigated agriculture. We did that on a water source that doesn’t exist anymore,” Simpson said. He worries for the future of his 20 year old son who may not yet understand the implications of decreasing water availability.
Surrounded by mountains, blanketed by pristine night skies, and made up 2,000,000 acres of flat open land, the San Luis valley is known to be one of the areas of lowest income in Colorado.
The farmers of the valley have been working the land for up to six generations, said Simpson, a fourth generation farmer.
The San Luis valley uses 8.7 percent of the total land for agricultural purposes. The valley receives seven inches of precipitation per year.
Farming has survived because of fertile soil and groundwater, according to Simpson. While precipitation is sparse, large aquifers lie underneath the valley, allowing farmers to pump water out of the land.
The problem lies in groundwater rights.
After many dry growing seasons, farmers have relied increasingly on groundwater to water their crops. Aquifers are being depleted, according to water table data, and companies are coming into the valley hoping to pump water out to Front Range cities.
The most recent culprit is Renewable Water Resources, a Denver-based company, looking to pump 22,000 acre feet of water out to the front range, Simpson said. One acre foot is estimated to be approximately 325,850 gallons. He estimates Renewable Water Sources would pay $75 per acre foot that they cannot replace in the valley and earn $2,500 per acre foot once transported to the Front Range.
In hopes of stabilizing water levels in aquifers, the Close Basin Project was created to salvage 60,000 acre feet of water per year. This is accomplished by diverting water to the canal and then back to the Rio Grande. Today the project saves about 8,000 acre feet per year, Simpson said.
“The San Luis Valley will fundamentally change if water levels keep dropping,” Simpson said, somewhat ominously.
Simpson and his father have started to grow hemp because the demand is high and its water usage is low. Other farmers are being bought out by larger companies and some are turning to recreation.
Duke Phillips, a man with a bushy mustache, broad smile, and fading cowboy hat, blends ranching and conservation. He raises bison because of their relatively low impact on the land and invites tourists to stay at Zapata Ranch, located in the San Luis Valley, and learn about mindful land management.
“We need to bridge the gap between urban areas and rural areas,” Phillips said, describing the holistic mission of Zapata Ranch.
Phillips hires several young people to do two year long apprenticeships focused in ranching and hospitality each year.
Back in Alamosa, not enough young people are going into farming to sustain it for much longer, according to Simpson.
“It’s what we do. We want to have an agricultural economy,” Simpson said. “But there is a realization setting in.”
