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<br />Median years of school completed by persons 25 years and over in 1970 <br />was 12.3. Those completing four years or more of high school is 59.1 <br />percent. Only 4 percent of this age group had completed less than five <br />years of school. <br /> <br />The City of Grand Junction (1973 population 25,740), lying near the <br />center of the irrigated area is the major municipal, commercial and <br />industrial area in the Upper Colorado River Basin. In addition to <br />agriculture and retail and wholesale trade, mining, recreation, tourism, <br />government construction and manufacturing are major sources of earnings. <br /> <br />Farm population for Mesa County in 1970 totaled 3,898. This is a 42.7 <br />percent decrease since 1960. Farms by census definition totaled 1,320 <br />in 1974; a 21 percent decrease since 1964. <br /> <br />Agricultural income from the sale of farm products in Grand Valley <br />amounts to about 40 percent of the total for the upper main stem of the <br />Colorado River in Colorado. Grand Valley contains about 65 percent of <br />the irrigated cropland in Mesa County, but the value of farm product <br />sales amounts to about 75 percent of the total for the county. <br /> <br />In 1974, there were 766 farm operating units with sales of $2,500 and <br />over. Of these, 352 had sales between $2.500 and $9,999; 145 had sales <br />between $10,000 and $19,999; and 269 had sales over $20,000. The average <br />age of farm operators with sales of $2,500 and over was 54 years in 1974 <br />as compared with 52.1 years in 1969. <br /> <br />AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS <br /> <br />Cost return data, by crop, was developed for high, medium, and low <br />management levels of water use to determine the impact on yields, <br />irrigation labor costs, net returns and returns to management in the <br />Grand Valley. The cost-return data was prepared for three typical farm <br />operations in the valley: a ISO-acre full time unit; a 25-acre part time <br />unit, and a 10-acre orchard unit. These crop budgets can be used to <br />evaluate the economic incentive for farmers in the valley to increase <br />their irrigation efficiencies. <br /> <br />levels of Farm Management - levels of management in the Grand Valley are <br />quite divergent and in general, reflect the degree of profitability of <br />the farm operation and the efficiency level of water use in the farming <br />operation. From available data, it appears that management is the most <br />significant factor in attaining high on-farm irrigation efficiency. <br />This includes not only efficient water management, but also efficient <br />management of cultural practices. <br /> <br />~\ <br /> <br />\9 <br />