farming

The Colorado River Authority of Utah board approved the first round of applicants for the state’s pilot program. It includes more than a dozen projects along Colorado River tributaries in eastern and southeastern Utah.

The Monticello FSA office lease termination is listed on the DOGE website, but if and when it will happen is unclear. Rural farmers rely on in-person services at the office for loans, grants and other programs.

The water conservation pilot will use state money to compensate farmers who temporarily stop irrigating some of their land. It aims to launch by April, but some hurdles remain.

Utah and other Western states are putting a lot of effort and money into improving irrigation efficiency. It’s not clear, however, how big of a dent it makes when it comes to keeping water in the Colorado River.

Farm irrigation uses a lot of water across the West. In one Utah community, however, farmers already grow crops without any irrigation. It might seem like an answer to the state's water woes, but the reality is not so simple.

Alfalfa dominates Utah farm fields. It also takes a lot of irrigation. So, some farmers and ranchers in Utah’s Colorado River Basin are experimenting with alternative crops that might help agriculture diversify and survive in a future with less water.

The Imperial Irrigation District in California is the Colorado River's largest water user. A new conservation plan will spend hundreds of millions to save water, but environmental advocates raised concerns.

Some experts say the System Conservation Pilot Program is costly and may not be the most effective way to save Colorado River water.

The START AgriTech event at Utah Tech University focuses on emerging technologies that could help make agriculture more sustainable in dry places.

A recent gathering of ranchers and farmers in St. George highlights the growing movement to take better care of Utah’s soil.

Many farmers across the Mountain West grow alfalfa, which is dried into hay and fed to beef and dairy cattle. But it requires a lot more water than most crops.

Last year, Wyoming lost 500,000 acres of farm and ranch land, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. In the Mountain West, more than seven million acres have disappeared in the past decade, mostly in Montana, Wyoming and New Mexico.