#Colorado agriculture commissioner details ‘future with less water’ — Yahoo! Finance – Coyote Gulch

Click on the link to read the article on Yahoo! Finance website (Grace O’Donnell). Here is an exerpt :

“You know, our farmers and ranchers are used to dealing with curveballs, but we’re in a new era,” Kate Greenberg, commissioner of the Colorado Department of Agriculture, told Yahoo Finance Live (video shown). -above). “We’re really thinking about diversity, resilience, perseverance to make sure we can continue to produce food here in Colorado, knowing that we’re in a future with less water.”

As of August 30, nearly half of the state (46%) is experiencing drought conditions, while 86% of the state is classified as “abnormally dry,” according to the latest Drought Monitor report. The areas most severely affected by the drought also overlap with the major agricultural producing counties in the state, as shown in the maps below. Agriculture is a $47 billion industry in the state, about one-tenth of Colorado’s gross economic output, and employs more than 195,000 workers. Livestock is the main commodity produced in the state…

Greenberg said farmers and ranchers in Colorado have begun to adapt by diversifying sources of income, including building solar farms and researching new production methods that use less water. The Department of Agriculture also announced a $1.9 million investment in drought preparedness projects, including grants to farmers and funding for water infrastructure…

“We address both surface water and groundwater issues here in many of our basins,” Greenberg said. “As we experience this tightening of surface and ground water, we are also seeing the development of new technologies, new forms of collaboration, new ways of thinking about how we support our local economies into a drier future.”