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<br />:~.'
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<br />
<br />AGRICULTURE
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<br />Crops
<br />
<br />The earliest farming on the project was as an adjunct to
<br />
<br />)
<br />
<br />livestock raising because winter range was not sufficient to SUp-
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<br />port aattle and sheep coming from summer pastures in the mountains
<br />
<br />through the relatively long and snowy ~~nters. However, the live-
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<br />stock industry was never as dominant on the Florida project as it
<br />
<br />is generally in Western Colorado, and today the project is more a
<br />J
<br />
<br />purely' farming community than. is commonly the case at similar a1ti-
<br />
<br />tudes elsewhere in the state. The development of the project will
<br />
<br />therefore require relatively more late season'water for cultivated
<br />
<br />cash crops to replace hay and grain than on many "Testern Slope proj-
<br />
<br />ects.
<br />
<br />"J'
<br />"".'.
<br />'.:;"{1-, .
<br />
<br />Table 2 gives the acreage of various crops reported by the
<br />
<br />Water Commissioner to have been irrigated during the period 1929 to
<br />)
<br />
<br />1938.
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<br />Table 2. Summary of Crop_Acreages
<br />
<br />Irrigated, 1929-1938
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<br />Taken from Water Commissioner's report
<br />
<br />J
<br />Cl;'ops:1929 :1930 :1931 :l~32 :1933 :1934 : 1935 : 1936 :1937 : 1938 : Mean 1-
<br />Al-'
<br />falfa:7,498 :7,618:7,183 :7,786:7,7Cf/fl,604:7,267 :6,338:6,600:6,261: 45.1
<br />Ce-
<br />rea1s:7,411 :7,086:7,200:6,<;l23:6,674:5,(J/3: 5,558:5,089 :4,946: 5,0,52: 38.3
<br />Pota-: '
<br />toes: 226; 209: 1364: 2)Q: 1981 132: 196: 208: 200: 163: 1,3
<br />Orch-:
<br />ards: 30 1: 285: 279: 291-: 2'E: 297: 2CJJ: 300: 3Cl2: 300 : 1,8
<br />*Pas- :
<br />ture :2,915 :2,959:2,045:2,4,53: 2,08.5:1,217: 1,447:2,348 :2 ,CS8: 2,018: 13..5
<br />
<br />: ;
<br />Total: 18,3.51: 18,1.57: 16,971 :17,6.56:16,963:14,323:14,765 :14,283:14,1,36:13,794: 100.0
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<br />* Irrigated in the spring of the year,
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