Agriculture water: Protecting the future of our nation -

Our agricultural proficiency has fulfilled the dreams of our forefathers and will, if we are prudent, support the aspirations of our children and their posterity. Agriculture links our economy, our environment, and our communities as both user and steward of our nation’s resources.

Though U.S. agriculture has been a reliable provider to our citizens for nearly four centuries, it is expected to produce even more for future generations amidst the growing complexities faced by our country and the global economy.

While facing these enormous challenges amidst great uncertainty and change, agriculture has proven to be resilient, innovative and increasingly productive.

One factor, however, that could prove the undoing of agriculture’s ability to continue as provider, employer, innovator and steward of the environment: Our nation needs agriculture and agriculture needs water.

With this significant issue in mind, a group of concerned agricultural land owners who collectively manage more than five million acres of ranch and crop land across the U.S., assembled on May 1-2, 2012 to address the single topic: “Water strategy.”

The working group, representing enterprises from across the nation, received a briefing paper of potential issues, and a keynote speaker provided additional topics. The participants then generated and prioritized their own list of water issues facing agriculture and the current state of water policy.

As these experienced agriculturists identified the most critical water resources priorities, their deliberations quickly turned to strategies needed to prioritize adequate water supplies for all users. Their decision to expand their focus should not be a surprise.

For agricultural producers, thinking globally is a necessary survival skill. The meeting participants unanimously agreed that agricultural leaders must join with other water stewards to address water supply and management strategies.

Consequently, the deliberations did not focus on specific industry or regional issues, but intentionally concentrated on comprehensive issues more likely to affect all water users.

The goal of this paper is to guide policy discussions and help our nation. It is not intended to criticize, but to inform. 
It is time to loudly sound the alarm that unless there are significant shifts in local, state, and federal water policy, water supply problems will only worsen in the coming years.

Water supply: What are the water supply issues?
Population growth, weather, infrastructure limitations, investment uncertainty, lack of research, counterproductive water laws, and in many cases lack of planning and prioritization, all presently limit water supplies.

At the same time, population growth creates demand for additional water and food production. Weather also plays a major role. The current drought favors agricultural producers who have irrigation.

In fact, 50 percent of our food supply (in value) is grown on the 16 percent of U.S. farmland that is irrigated. Much of the 84 percent of farm and ranch land that is not irrigated could produce more with irrigation.

Water supplies for cities and irrigation require adequate water infrastructure. Water infrastructure shortcomings have been described as a “trillion dollar question” facing the U.S.

In this setting, it is fair to ask if we have maintained adequate research to cope with weather changes, increased production demands, and water management and utilization technologies.

Water supply recommendations:

Engage all stakeholders in strategic planning for replacement of aging infrastructure and creation of new infrastructure needed to supply water for expanding food production and growing urban centers.
Encourage research universities to analyze water availability, storage opportunities, environmental costs of alternative technologies, and human interaction with the water cycle so that water supplies can be increased and better managed.
Research, develop, and implement adaptive strategies in response to weather cycles, such as improved forecasting, enhanced irrigation technologies, better watershed management, and more water efficient plant varieties.
Advocate greater and more innovative options for investing in water supply infrastructure and management.
Support practical conservation efforts, both in urbanized and agricultural environments, on a basin- wide approach rather than user by user.
Investigate resource sharing, re-use, or multi-use agreements.
Support changes in water laws that impede efficient water use.
Increase the emphasis on water storage technologies, including underground storage when practical.
Support investment in research and technologies that allow all users to improve overall aquifer or basin-wide water use efficiencies.
Increase water infrastructure investment by providing  certainty for water right ownership.
Develop improved measures of water use in agricultural  production.

Water resource stewardship: Who will address our water needs?
The key components to stewardship are not only to maintain good management and conservation practices, but to also improve leadership, representation, and education on water issues.  The need for strong leadership and careful management could not be more critical.

Regional conflicts emerge throughout the U.S. as shared water supplies fall short. These shortages have many faces. Increased urban water demands, parched crops and other symptoms of regional drought, fisheries affected by stream flow reductions, declining aquifers, water quality impairments, and many other problems create challenges for responsible water stewards.  

The general public does not know what agriculture producers know in part because there is little incentive to know. Water and food are more abundant, cheaper, and convenient than at any time in human history.

The vast majority of the U.S. population does not know what goes on beyond the water faucet and the grocery store. Only agricultural producers  can tell the whole story first hand and have both the knowledge base and the need to do so.

With only 2 percent of the U.S. population directly involved in production agriculture and only 1 percent in full-time farming, there needs to be a concerted effort to provide future generations the enhanced understanding of the social, economic, national security, and environmental benefits of agriculture and the stewardship required to preserve and grow these unique communities and eco-systems.  Water

Resource stewardship recommendations:  

Provide leadership and education on why agriculture needs reliable water supplies to provide for the greater community and contribute to our national security.  
Collaborate with other water user groups to develop strategic water infrastructure and supply projects. 
Advocate flexible policies that provide incentives to  land owners who steward water resources. 
Encourage better utilization of university, government,  and private research capabilities in information gathering and analysis for continued water resource planning and policy development.  
Increase research on shared benefits among water users.

Long-term water policy: How will the needed changes be accomplished?
The session participants identified water policy as the final and perhaps most emphatic of the three priorities.

Much existing water policy was created in response to immediate issues without good science and without adequate consideration for long-term consequences on all stakeholders.

This paper proposes that effective water policy must include:

a) good contextual planning with collaboration among all responsible stakeholders
b) sound scientific research
c) accurate factual analyses
d) implementation consistent with policy
e) incentives aligned with agreed objectives
f) effective dispute resolution processes

Policies should be developed against these guidelines; those not consistent with them should be reconsidered. Too many policy decisions have left a trail of conflict, obsolete infrastructure, and wasted resources.

Such policies, whether at the local, state, or national level, threaten rather than protect water supplies.

Long-term water policy recommendations:

Include agricultural representatives in rule making and policy implementation to ensure inclusion of their perspective and needs, recognizing present and future agricultural uses as essential to water supply planning and public need.
Support comprehensive, aquifer and basin-wide planning with local flexibility and implementation.
Establish water policies that allow and encourage integrated, long-term planning and solutions.
Advocate that water policies be developed in a “systems” context, addressing hydrologic characteristics, opportunities for cooperation, the optimal mix of private and public investment, existing and projected water use patterns (including crop rotations), etc.
Water right owners must receive full market value compensation when water supplies are taken or impaired to meet public policy objectives.  
Support science based creation and enforcement of rules governing water use and management.  
Include water policy training in industry association programs.
Reinforce the availability and predictability of long- term water rights and permits for agricultural uses, including banking of water rights for future food production expansions.
Eliminate contradictory, overlapping, and punitive regulations.
Participate in broad-based efforts to review and revise water policies at local, state, and national levels.

Conclusion
Our nation cannot exist without agriculture and agriculture cannot exist without dependable and affordable water supplies.

Our agricultural industry supplies essential food, fuel, and fiber; provides open space; protects natural resources; forms the foundation of a thriving economy; supports vibrant urban and rural communities; furnishes wildlife habitat; and serves as a motivated and experienced land steward.

If competition for limited water resources harms agriculture, then society as a whole suffers consequences as measured  by scarcity, increased costs to consumers, and increased dependence on foreign food sources with the attendant risks to our national security.

Many organizations predict that wars will be fought over water supplies in the near future. In light of all this, national security concerns regarding food and water deserve thoughtful consideration.