WSP09148

• File Number: 8443
• Description: Narrows Unit
• State: CO
• Basin: South Platte
• Water Division: 1
• Date: 8/1/1966
• Author: US DoI BoR
• Title: Report on the Narrows Unit Colorado South Platte Division Missouri River Basin Project Part 2 of 2
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Report/Study

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0161

Agricultural Economy

Land classification studies delineated 22,465 acres of irrigable
land in the unit service area which are under existing ditch systems
but which have been irrigated only intermittently when water was
available. Because these lands have no assured water supply without
the Narrows Unit, they have been treated as irrigable dry lands in the
future "without" agricultural studies. Reference to these lands as
irrigable dry lands is for convenience and not as a precise description
of their actual irrigated status.

Representative Farms and Land Use

Farm characteristics such as size, land use, crop yields, soil
types and general farming operations are comparable throughout the
Narrows Unit service area. In order to make an equitable and detailed
appraisal of the agri-business, a sample area was selected from which
to conduct farm interviews. Since the request for the largest amount
of supplemental water was made by the North Sterling Irrigation Dis-
trict, farmers in this service area were interviewed. A 490-acre farm
was selected as representative of current conditions. In order to
allow for future growth the size of the representative farm was in-
creased to 530 acres for both the payment capacity and the irrigation
benefit studies.

Future land use with the unit should not differ significantly
from present use except for the conversion of intermittently irrigated
land to fully irrigated crop production. The enlarged irrigation
enterprise would permit some increase in intensity of crop production
for high-value irrigated crops. A summary of anticipated land use
and crop distribution on representative farms is presented in table 14
for Ilwithoutll and IIwithll project conditions.

Crops and Crop Yields

Estimates of future crops and crop yields were made on the basis
of records from Morgan, Logan, and Sedgwick Counties, the Colorado-
Big Thompson Project, and information obtained from the North Sterling
area farm survey. Because of the practice in the North Sterling area
of reserving sufficient water to finish out sugar beets and dry beans
it was judged that supplemental water would cause no immediate increase
in their yields. Alfalfa and corn yields, however, should increase
immediately because these crops are not presently irrigated adequately
during periods of water shortages. Average crop yields used in.the
repayment and benefit studies are listed in table 15.

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