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"' o a) OJ -..:E . ., , . \ i ~ , i g ! ~ I ~ ~ , " ~ . ,~ ~ ;J ~ , ., . 't The crop yield with shortages of water, and especially the gross crop income, do not vary directly with the magnitude of the shortages. Increase in crop yields, as the optimum water requirement is approached, become less and less. Also, if water in storage is deficient, farmers will utilize the remaining supply on crops which will give the highest returns. Applying these factors to the shortages, it was found that with an average an- nual water Shortage of 10.8 percent, the gross crop income would be about 6.6 percent less than the estimated income with a full supply. Past records of crops grown on the dry land and on the ir- rigated land in Las Animas County, and the yields were obtained from statistics published by the Department of Agriculture. Crop prices adopted for this study are the average of the 1939-1944 period. This period was selected as it is considered to be representative of long-term average values, because it does not include the current high prices or the extremely low prices of the depressi0n years. Use of the above data gave an average in- come of $8.82 per acre for farmed dry land; and $26.20 on ir- rigated land. If a more dependable water supply is made available, the crop pattern will be changed and the yield will be increased. The annual crop returns under a reservoir providin8 a full supply were estimated to be $44.12 per acre. For our studies a pr~ject area of 22,200 acres was selected; the Corps of Engineers also used a project area of this size in their review report. This acreage includes 19,500 acres now being irrigated and 2,700 acres of new lands. With a ~)roject of this size the estimated gross farm income resulting from project -16-