Colorado agriculture commissioner details ‘a future of less water’

A two-decade-long megadrought in the American West is forcing farmers and ranchers to rethink how they raise crops and cattle as water resources become stretched.

"You know, our farmers and ranchers are used to dealing with curveballs coming their way, but we're in a new era," Kate Greenberg, commissioner of the Colorado Department of Agriculture, told Yahoo Finance Live (video above). "We're really thinking about diversity, resilience, perseverance to make sure that we can keep producing food here in Colorado, knowing we're under a future of 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 most severely drought-stricken areas also happen to overlap with the top agricultural-producing counties in the state, as seen in the maps below.

Agriculture makes up a $47 billion industry in the state, around a tenth of Colorado's gross economic output, and employs over 195,000 workers. Cattle is the top commodity produced in the state.

Greenberg explained that Colorado farmers and ranchers started adapting by diversifying revenue streams, including building solar farms and looking at new ways of production that use less water. The Department of Agriculture also announced a $1.9 million investment into drought preparedness projects, including grants to farmers and funding for water infrastructure.

"We are focused on finding solutions that we can do here in Colorado agriculture to be proactive," Greenberg said. "We know we're expecting to see not just drier times and hotter times, but more variability, less certainty."

While Colorado has seen natural fluctuations in its hydrology over the years, Greenberg emphasized that climate change will accelerate shifts in the region's climate and the water cycle.

"We are focused on finding solutions that we can do here in Colorado agriculture to be proactive," Greenberg said. "We know we're expecting to see not just drier times and hotter times but more variability, less certainty."

Increasing competition over water resources is already inserting uncertainty as states, tribal nations, and federal government scramble to address the water needs of millions of people and various industries.

The drying of the Colorado River, which begins in the Rocky Mountains and supplies water to 40 million people across seven states, has become one of the more pressing concerns lately.

In June, federal officials gave states that rely on the Colorado River — Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming — 60 days to come up with a plan to conserve 2 to 4 million acre-feet of water.

The states failed to reach an agreement by the deadline, and now all eyes are on the government to see how it will respond. Meanwhile, as farmers are forced to cut back on water from rivers, they are relying heavily on groundwater from underground aquifers.

But that can pose challenges of its own.

When groundwater aquifers are overly depleted, it can cause subsidence, a phenomenon where the land sinks and the aquifer loses its capacity to retain water.

"We're dealing with both the surface water and the groundwater issues out here in many of our basins," Greenberg said. "While we're experiencing this tightening in both the surface and the groundwater, we're also seeing development of new technologies, new forms of collaboration, new ways of thinking about how we support our local economies in a drier future."

Greenberg noted that a lot of the leadership is happening on the ground at the local level.

"Here at the state, we're helping those local communities absorb some of the risk of those changes, get resources where they're needed, and help with the transition to a vibrant economy of the future that is less dependent on water, but still dependent on the agricultural communities and production that we rely on," Greenberg said.

Grace is an assistant editor for Yahoo Finance.

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