In late April 2019, natural resource economist Dale Manning (CSU) presented the talk featured below, “The Economic Benefits to Agricultural Producers of Water Right Retirement in Kansas” to about 150 USDA economists and policy staff, as part of an ecosystem service valuation workshop held in Washington, D.C. This presentation presents work supported by our USDA-NIFA funded CAP to evaluate the economic benefits to agricultural producers from higher groundwater levels and conserved water achieved as a result of the Upper Arkansas River Basin CREP program, through which producers can be paid to permanently retire irrigated land and associated water rights.
The team gathered data from producers using a survey to determine support for an aquifer recharge program that pays farmers a certain amount per well and that increases well capacity by 100 GPM in their area.
By combining that survey data with information from the Kansas Geological Surveys’s MODFLOW model that simulates groundwater levels starting in 2008 for the next 15, 30, and 50 years, the team was able to provide estimates for the economic value of projected gains in aquifer saturated thickness and well capacity compared to a baseline (no CREP enrollment).
Results from this work suggest that the program provided small gains on average but that wells located in close proximity to retired wells can experience significant gains in value.