Agribusiness dependent on Colorado River water

Editor's note: This is part of a series of stories exploring the diverse set of people and interests that depend on the Highland Lakes. The Lower Colorado River Authority is working to balance these needs as it updates the Water Management Plan for lakes Travis and Buchanan. This story looks at the issues faced by agricultural customers who depend on the lakes for irrigation water. The next story in the series looks at the needs of industrial customers and power plants.

By John Williams
Lower Colorado River Authority

"If you eat, you're involved in agriculture," goes the saying.  By comparison, folks in Colorado, Wharton and Matagorda counties are committed.

For more than a century, agriculture has been the lifeblood of these coastal counties of the lower Colorado River basin.  Much, if not most, of the region is devoted to agriculture or support services that have created, by some estimates, a $300 million a year industry.

"Agriculture is the name of the game in Wharton County," said Laurance Armour, general manager of the Pierce Ranch Irrigation Operation.  

Much of the agribusiness centers on rice, a crop that has been prominent since it was introduced to the region in the late 19th century. Worldwide demand and optimum growing conditions have tied rice to the region.

"If we don't grow rice there, we don't grow anything," said Ronald Gertson, whose great-grandfather started rice farming in Wharton County in 1910 – a family tradition continued by four generations.

For more than a century, the farmers have depended on water from the Colorado River to irrigate their crops – first from privately owned companies that built the systems that feed river water to the farms, and later from LCRA, which supplemented the river flows with releases from lakes Travis and Buchanan and later acquired the major irrigation systems.

"Historically, LCRA has always provided sufficient water for our rice crops, and they have been a reliable source of irrigation water needs," said Matagorda County farmer Haskell Simon.

Then came notice from LCRA last fall that, if severe drought conditions continued into 2010, much of the farmers' water could be curtailed or shut off, under the guidelines of the version of LCRA's Water Management Plan in effect at the time.

Roughly two-thirds of the water used in the lower Colorado River basin is for agricultural irrigation, especially rice. Most of the water the farmers annually purchase is classified by LCRA as "interruptible" and is limited to a one-year contract. Farmers pay a lower price than "firm" water customers, but they may be curtailed or cut off if LCRA's water supplies become low. 

And for the first time since the plan's implementation in 1989, LCRA was having to consider a significant curtailment.  Two years of severe drought had dropped LCRA's total water supply in lakes Travis and Buchanan to less than 40 percent and below a "trigger point" for curtailing interruptible water supplies. 

The prospect of a curtailment created "shock and awe" among some farmers, Armour recalled.  "There was almost a state of panic" because the curtailment would have been disastrous, he added.

"The farmers can't just lay out one year and not take an income and go back in," said Ralph Savino, who manages the 15,000 acres owned by the Lehrer family within the Garwood Irrigation Division in Colorado and Wharton counties. "Most of them would have to go out of business."

The farmers' exits would have a domino effect on the support businesses, according to Armour.  "It would have affected the mills, the dryers, the aerial applicators, the fertilizer and chemical companies, the truckers – everybody."

The damage would have spread to businesses and merchants who serve and sell to those employed by the farms and support businesses. "It would be a cascading effect that would be very harmful to the overall economy," Simon said.

Fortunately, the return of rains in fall 2009 ended the curtailment threat. But the episode is very much on the minds of Simon, Gertson, Savino and Armour as they represent irrigation interests on the 16-member advisory committee that is working with LCRA to update the Water Management Plan.

The irrigation interests' goal is to maintain a reliable water supply for farmers as other users' demands for Colorado River water continue to increase.

Agriculture traditionally takes a hit from the Colorado's other water users for its heavy water demands, especially for rice.  Savino and his fellow stakeholders agree that other users' needs are important, but so is agriculture for offering a local food source. "You don't want to be dependent on somebody else for your food supply," Savino said. Gertson and Savino pointed out agriculture's ties to environmental stewardship and wildlife, as the farmland attracts migratory game. 

Even so, "We've got to find an accommodation so that all of these various demands can be addressed," Simon said.

Conservation is part of the solution. Farmers have invested heavily in conservation measures, as has Gertson on three-quarters of the 8,000 acres he farms.

But the next step "is going to have to be some growth in water supply," Gertson added, a step he and his agricultural representatives agree will not be without developmental and political costs.

"The bottom line is: We all need to coexist. Food production is important, and it's going to be more important," Armour said. "The people who are nonagricultural producers need to keep that in their context, and we need to keep in our context the fact that we are not the only users of water.  And we have to be as vigilant and efficient in our use of water as humanly possible."

John Williams is a senior communications specialist with LCRA.