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<br />STATEMENT OF PROBLEMS AND NEEOS <br /> <br /> <br />Until recently the land in this area was devoted almost exclusively <br />to dryland cattle grazing and wheat production. It was part of the <br />vast, semi-arid "next-year" country extending from Mexico to Canada, <br />where average annual rainfall of about 10 to 20 inches made each year's <br />rewards from dryland farming and ranching highly uncertain. <br /> <br />In the late 1930's, pumpage from the Ogallala for irrigation <br />purposes began to rise to a significant level. This development <br />continued to expand after World War II, and accelerated in the 1950's <br />as low-cost natural gas for pumping became generally available <br />throughout the region. This combination of a seemingly boundless supply <br />of good quality water, low-cost energy, deep fertile soils, level <br />terrain, and favorable climate resulted in the rapid expansion of <br />investment in irrigated agriculture, with a tremendous increase in <br />agricultural production and associated agribusiness. <br /> <br />Since 1950, the land under irrigation in the High Plains expanded <br />at an annual average rate of about 7.5 percent. Enormous increases <br />occurred in feed grain crop production. In the 20 years between 1954 <br />and 1973, feed grain production, primarily of grain sorghum and corn, in <br />the Kansas, Colorado, Texas and Oklahoma portions of 11 USDA <br />crop-reporting districts rose from 129 million to 386 million bushels, <br />a production increase of 175 percent*. <br /> <br />*Plaxico, James S., Professor of Agriculture Economics, Oklahoma State <br />University (draft of prepared testimony on use of natural gas for <br />irrigation). <br /> <br /> <br />D4 <br />