Overcoming Obstacles to Deficit Irrigation: Colorado Case Study

Deficit irrigation, or the deliberate underirrigation of a crop, is a way to save farm water and allocate it to uses such as municipal, industrial, or agricultural expansion. Research on this practice has focused on profitability, but with conflicting results. The feasibility of deficit irrigation involves more than economic concerns, and agronomic and legal aspects are also important in improving farm operations. The feasibility of deficit irrigation depends to a large extent on context, and a case involving the water law system of the State of Colorado in the western United States was examined to provide a real-world instance to study the institutional and technical challenges of implementing it. Colorado has experienced extensive transfers from agriculture to urban areas and is interested in employing deficit irrigation to free more irrigation water for use in the future. Based on the results, the paper suggests practical methods for implementation of deficit irrigation in Colorado, with possible implications for similar regions with irrigated agriculture.