In Nevada, alfalfa farmers are being paid to retire their water rights
As the only state in the Great Basin that doesn’t use Colorado River water for agriculture, Nevada’s farmers rely on groundwater wells. Yet many of the state’s aquifers are shrinking, threatening its cattle ranches and its cash crop, alfalfa hay, which helps feed California’s dairy cows. Groundwater is vanishing all over the country — the result of decades of excessive use and climate change-fueled drought. In some states facing severe groundwater decline, officials are beginning to penalize over-pumping or ordering farmers to stop irrigating because conservation alone won’t be enough. … With $25 million in federal pandemic aid, state officials decided to run a one-time test of whether farmers would be interested in selling all or a portion of their legal rights to draw groundwater. … By this spring, they had their answer: There were more applicants than money to pay them. Farmers and ranchers offered to sell $65.5 million worth of water rights, more than two-and-a-half times the available funding.
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