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1946 subsequent dismantling by a combination of changing administrative .policy and regulation, court decisions, and legislative actions. Appendix III contains a summary o.f .the changes that have occurred in the Newlands Project since 1944.. There was relative stability in national policy from 1902 when the Newlands Project was first approved under the new Reclamation Act, until 1967, when the Endangered Species Act was passed. Since 1967, and especially since 1983, .there have been constant changes. While the particulars in Appendix III .apply only to the Newlands Project in .Nevada, the results of national policy changes affect water rights holders around the West. Added to the loss of water which we were always told was a private property right, is the devaluation of our property as a result of the uncertainty under which we have been living. Decisions about water allocation and policy are appealed or pending over long periods of time. In many cases, these issues take years to settle and then are re-opened and challenges begin anew. Where the Federal Government is involved, we are no match. Large agribusiness operations perhaps are in a position to hire and retain the attorneys necessary for protracted legal proceedings. The family farmer cannot. - . Our situation illustrates why we are being pushed to think about getting out of farming, and why most of our sons and daughters do not want anything to do with farming for a living. Our farm has always represented much more than a way to put food on the table. Farming is a way of life for us. Careful stewardship and nurturing of the land is a passion. We forego profits to provide habitat and forage for the wildlife that our acreage supports, and we are not alone. Most of our neighbors care just as much. As my wife and I approach retirement, o~r dream has become a nightmare from which we don't wake up. After 30 years of working to put a farm together, we live with daily uncertainty and with the possibility that we will be left with fewer than 30 acres to farm. There simply has to be a better way. A LEGACY IN DOUBT How surprised my grandparents, John and Anna Mills, would be today. Little by little that permanent and assured water they counted on and that made it possible for them to feed their family of seven children, is being taken away. They survived, but they did not accumulate wealth. What they left to their children and grandchildren was a legacy of hard work, love of the harsh desert land, love of family and the promise of a future where they could make a modest income by the sweat of their brow. The water supply my grandparents and their heirs were promised has been eroded by population growth and increasing demands that exceed the supply. While agribusiness can absorb increasing costs and assault on their irrigation water, family farms, reflecting the Jeffersonian ideal and deliberately encouraged by the 1902 Reclamation Act, seem doomed. My story is but a variant of thousands. Today we no longer ride behind balers in a cloud of dust with one minute to get wires around the bale. It's all done automatically. To make the most efficient use of water, land is levelled using laser technology. Today, knowing how to fix machinery and use a computer - not the helping hand of a neighbor - is critical to survival as a farmer. We still sing together as a family. My grandchildren live nearby. My wife plays the organ and directs the local community chorus. Two local supermarkets make home canning optional. Milking machines have deprived local children of entry into the "barn fraternity" I had with my brothers. Though the community shows signs of urbanizing, groups of farmers still meet each other in the early morning hours at local coffee shops where we discuss the weather, the price of hay, and the latest legal battle in what has become a never-ending struggle to hold on to critically needed water. Most farmers have to supplement their income in some way. Many dream of being full time farmers, but only a few with very large acreage have the luxury to be able to farm full time and still support their families. The cost of medical insurance alone is out of reach for many who don't have wives who work. Land prices are too high to make payments on a loan for land and equipment and still have enough left over. The uncertainty in the water rights picture has devalued farm property and discouraged buyers. The same uncertainty leads us to thoughts of subdividing and getting as much as we can for the land. Such desecration of prime farmland and open space goes against our grain. 366