C150338 Feasibility - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

a. With the ability to purchase the proposed water shares it will give the Eckhardt Farms the ability to move water, of the existing shares, around to other nearby farms to help with a lack of water that is taken care of by Eckhardt Farms. The purchase of these proposed water shares will also help Eckhardt Farms to make up for the loss of water and the loss of farmable acres since the water wells have been shut down in 2005. See Table 2.1 in the above section for Water Rights. • 3.2 Water Supply Demands a. The proposed purchase of Western Mutual Ditch Company's water shares will not add any acres to the operation it will most importantly give Eckhardt Farms the ability to increase yields with more water. The purchase of this water will serve Eckhardt Farms for the 30 year loan period and as long as Eckhardt Farms continues to farm the Peckham - Reifschneider Farm. Also with the purchase of the proposed water shares those will now be tied in with the land to increase the value of the Peckham - Reifschneider Farm. 4. Project Description — Analysis of Alternatives and Selected Alternative • 4.1 Analysis of Alternatives a. Alternative 1: No Action o With taking no action Eckhardt Farms would not accept the loan and would not purchase any of the proposed water shares. This would decrease crop expectations significantly causing Eckhardt Farms to produce lower yielding crops and decreasing the profitability of the Peckham - Reifschneider Farm. Without the purchase of the proposed shares it would also decrease the ability to farm all of the farmable acres on the Peckham - Reifschneider Farm. b. Alternative 2: Purchase Half o Another approach that the Eckhardt Farms Corporation could take is to purchase half of the proposed Western Mutual Ditch Company shares. This would mean the Corporation would purchase 10.5 shares of Western Mutual Ditch Company Water for $70,000.00 per share making the total cost $735,000.00. The downside to this alternative is we would lose the ability to purchase the other 10.5 shares of water and in growing seasons that the water supply is short Eckhardt Farms could possibly have to face lower yields or a loss of crops. c. Alternative 3: Infrastructure o Eckhardt Farms Corporation could use the proposed loan to improve the infrastructure of farms. By improving the infrastructure the corporation would choose to install more equipment that would be used to help conserve water such as drip irrigation systems, center pivot systems, augmentation ponds, etc. This will give us the ability to conserve water Eckhardt Farms Corporation 3