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<br />CDIVI <br /> <br />SWSI Phase 2 Technical Roundtable <br />Agricultural Transfer Alternatives to Permanent Dry-up <br /> <br />Farm Employment <br /> <br />Employment in farming in Colorado accounts for a relatively minor portion of the <br />state's total employment. Table 4 shows the percent contributions to total statewide <br />employment attributable to farming in Colorado from the period 1970 to 2000. <br />Farming employment has declined from about 5 percent 30 years ago to less than <br />2 percent in 2000. <br /> <br />Employment in farming, in absolute terms, is not an insignificant component of the <br />Colorado economy, employing roughly 45,000 people in 2000. Table 4 illustrates how <br />farming employment has remained fairly steady from 1970 to 2000, while steadily <br />decreasing as a fraction of total employment as other employment sectors have <br />increased. <br /> <br />Table 4 Employment in Farming versus Employment in All Colorado Industries: 1970-2000 <br /> <br />1970 1975 1980 ~ 1995 ~ <br /> <br />Employment in Farming in 46,852 39,739 44,999 <br />Colorado <br />Employment in all 1,031,728 1,285,327 1,654,180 1,926,148 2,054,770 2,448,120 2,958,899 <br />Colorado Industries <br />Farming Percentage 4.50/0 1.60/0 1.50/0 <br /> <br />Source: U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis: (www.bea.gov/bea/regional/reis/default.cfm#a) <br /> <br />4. Potential Statewide Changes in Irrigated Acres <br /> <br />Agricultural transfers to M&I use are part of many water providers' plans for meeting <br />future water demands. As outlined in Section 5 of the SWSI report, there may be a <br />significant amount of irrigated acres transferred to M&I use. <br /> <br />By 2030, reductions in irrigated acres are expected to occur in most basins as <br />agricultural lands are developed for M&I use and/ or water is transferred from <br />agriculture to M&I use to provide for M&I water needs. Additional reductions in <br />irrigated acreage in the South Platte and Arkansas Basins may occur if adequate <br />augmentation sources are not developed for the farms using alluvial groundwater as <br />their primary source of water supply. In the Rio Grande Basin, groundwater pumping <br />in the Closed Basin north of the Rio Grande has resulted in major declines in <br />groundwater levels. Analysis by water users in the Rio Grande Basin suggest that a <br />reduction of up to 100,000 irrigated acres may be required to restore groundwater <br />levels in the basin and achieve long-term sustainability of this resource. <br /> <br />In other areas of the state, localized decreases and increases in agricultural water use <br />are also expected. During the SWSI BRT process, participants provided input on <br />potential changes in irrigated acres, including the following examples. Several <br />agricultural participants of the Yampa/White/Green BRT indicated the desire to <br />irrigate an additional 20,000 to 39,000 acres, if storage could be developed to provide a <br />firm supply of water and funding sources provided. The additional irrigation would <br />occur in Moffat County in Water Districts 44, 54, 55, 56, and 57. The Dolores/San <br />Juan/San Miguel Basin agricultural BRT participants indicated plans to irrigate an <br /> <br />DRAFT <br /> <br />7 <br /> <br />S:\MEETINGS\TECHNICAL ROUNDTABLE\TRT MEETING - SPECIFIC\AL TERNATIVE AG TRANSFERS\SWSI TRT ALTERNATIVES TO PERMANENT DRY-UP BRIEFING 9-6-05_CJEDOC <br />