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~1 N N ....1 animal unit month (AUM) of pasture are used (updated from Willis 1974). V. DATA DEVELOPMENT FOR THE AGRICULTURAL SECTOR Agricultural Land Use and Production Livestock and livestock products are the major agricultural activity in the Upper Colorado region. Approximately 75 percent of agricultural sales are livestock and live- stock products, while sales of field crops, fruits, and vegetables account for 25 percent (U.S. Water Resources Council 1971). Crops in the basin are primarily foraf!e and feed for the livestock industry. Out of 2,208,283 acres of total field croplands in 1974, only 51.8 percent were irrigated. The major crops grown on irrigated land were hay, pasture, corD silage, and small grains. Alfalfa hay and native haVe the main hay crops in the region use about 58 percent of the irrigated land. Pasture and small grains were ranked second and third in acreage of irrigated land. Barley and wheat were the primary grains for feed and brewery. Because of similarities in water consumptive use and irrigation practices, native hay and pasture are aggregated. For modeling purposes, pasture and all hay except alfalfa lands are called pasture land and the rest is called cropland. These lands (shown in Table 11) are used as the base for comparison of future development. The projection of future irrigation development is based on authorized projects as reported by the U. S. Department of the Interior (1977) and presented in Table 4. The Dew irrigated land is assumed to be used as cropland. Most of the crops are sold to the local dairy industry and to cattle and sheep ranches. There is some importation of feed for livestock. The annual prices of crops in the four states reported by U. S. Department of Agriculture, Statistical Reporting Service (1974) are shown in Table 13. The price of corn silage and pasture were not reported. An estimated price of $17.20 per ton of corn silage and $5.19 per In order to estimate the net return per acre of irri,eated land, the productivity (yield per acre) a~d cost of producinf irrigated crops must be presented. Crop yields per acre depend on the type of soil, weather, water, and farm practices. The data for crop yields and cost of production (Tables l4 and l5) are derived from U. s. Water Resources Council (l97l), Wright et al. (1972), Davis et a1. (1975), and Olsen (1977). Alfalfa hay is divided into alfalfa full and alfalfa partial irrigated. Alfalfa full consumes more water and its yield is higher than alfalfa partial. The cost data are updated and adjusted to 1974 price levels by using index numbers of prices paid by farmers (Economic Report of the President 1977). The dollar value of net return per acre of irrigated land is derived by substracting total variable cost from total revenue. This is used as a net return coefficient in the objective function (shown in Table l6). However, the nature of irrigated pasture and the assumption of pasture land in this report made the estimate of net return on pasture land difficult. Irrigated pasture can be under rotation (cropland), permanent (non- cropland), or other. All other hay can be either improved or native hay (U.S. Water Resources Council 1971). Alfalfa can be grown separately or mixed with grass and legumes. Native grasses grown on grazing land is widely seen in the Intermountain West. Different pasture types produce different nutritional mixes and result in different net returns when compared with the return on beef production. Properly managed pastures can bring a net return of $25.00 to $l64.00 per acre, including credit for labor (Acord 1970). Since pasture land in this study includes all other hay which generally has a higher value than pasture itself, the average net return of $87.35 per acre is selected to represent the net return on pasture. 29