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Agriculture Jeff Tranel Agriculture and Business Management Economist Colorado State University I'm going to talk about the economic value of the river for the counties in the basin. I'd like to narrow the basin down somewhat for the following discussion to eight counties - Lake, Chaffee, Fremont, Pueblo, Crowley, Otero, Bent, and Prowers. I realize that other counties in the district are directly and indirectly impacted by these counties and the river. Also, I would like to focus on five primary irrigated crops - alfalfa, com for grain, sorghum for grain, winter wheat, and vegetables, sweet com and melons. These are the primary crops according to Colorado A2ricultural Statistics. 1992. Colorado has almost 11 million acres in crop production, and the eight counties listed above have 0.8 million acres of crop land. Approximately 50% of the irrigated crop acres in Colorado and 66% of the irrigated acres in the Arkansas River valley are used to produce alfalfa, corn, "vegetables, sweet corn, and melons," wheat, and sorghum. Furthermore, 14% of the acres on which these crops are produced are contained within the river valley counties. The acres of these five crops in the Arkansas River basin totaled 215,348 in 1992. Gross sales were approximately $62.00 million. Alfalfa accounted for about 50% of the total value of the five crops. "s Primary" Crops in the Arkansas River Basin Acres Gross Sales Million $ $/Acre Alfalfa 119,600 31.3 262 Com 48,900 16.0 327 Vegetables 6,848 8.4 1,227 Wheat 19,700 3.5 178 Sorghum 20,300 2.8 138 Total 215,348 62.0 Arkansas River Basin Water Forum 31 "A River of Dreams and Realities" . Agri-business includes farm production, agicultura1 inputs, ag processing, and marketing. Income is sales (marketings and government payments) less costs. The total agri-business income for the eight counties exceeded $152 million in 1992. Pueblo County had the highest agri-business income at $51,483,000, while Lake County had $56,000 of such income.