For more than a hundred years, northeast Colorado鈥檚 farming-dependent economy has boomed thanks to a mostly reliable supply of snow melt and runoff from the Rocky Mountains that鈥檚 channeled to a complex web of irrigation ditches and reservoirs.
But this year, historically low snow pack coupled with a searing heat wave extending from Colorado to the Midwest has left many farmers bracing for huge losses.
鈥楶lanning a Funeral鈥�
A giant shiny green John Deer combine rumbles to a stop in a parched wheat field halfway between Denver and Greeley.
Out pops fourth generation farmer Dave Eckhart, who, in sunglasses and a baseball cap, is matter of fact and straight-talking, like a lot of farmers, especially when it comes to how to close this huge beast of a machine鈥檚 bulky door.
鈥淪lam that sucker shut,鈥� he says, eager to get back to his work.
High up in the air-conditioned cab, the wheat, onion and corn fields of sprawling Weld County unfold. This region is ; buoyed by irrigation, but not immune to a stubborn drought and an unforgiving heat wave that鈥檚 extended across the nation鈥檚 midsection this summer.
鈥淵ou鈥檝e got great prices, it could have been a really good year,鈥� Eckhart says. 鈥淏ut the drought鈥檚 affected a large portion of the production areas in the US and Colorado鈥檚 no different.鈥�
As a farmer, Eckhart doesn鈥檛 have the luxury of making snap business decisions. At the start of the year, before the drought took full hold, he had to decide how much wheat to plant, along with onions, sugar beats, and one of the most lucrative commodities, corn.
Today, with water in short supply, he鈥檚 deciding what to keep alive.
鈥淚t鈥檚 kind of like planning a funeral,鈥� Eckhart says. 鈥淵ou鈥檝e invested the money that you needed to raise the crop, you鈥檝e gotten to a point where you鈥檝e got a crop established, but now you鈥檙e pulling life support, which would be the water away from it, to keep another crop or another field alive.鈥�
In Eckhart鈥檚 case, he鈥檚 decided to pull water away from more than a third of the corn he鈥檚 planted, in favor of keeping more of his onions alive so that he can continue to supply a nearby processing plant.
Drought Takes Hold
It鈥檚 a predicament not unique to Eckhart, as .
The lack of rain and green foliage has forced ranchers to downsize their cattle herds. The federal government has predicted more than a third of the nation鈥檚 corn crop is now damaged, causing prices to soar.
That鈥檚 of particular concern to a region like northeast Colorado; where large feedlots and dairies have thrived in recent years due to stable feed prices.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 sort of the tight economic web that鈥檚 drawn together,鈥� says James Pritchett, an extension specialist at .
Pritchett says things could be worse, but if the drought persists into next year, hard times are ahead.
鈥淲e鈥檝e had some good years,鈥� he says. 鈥淔or the most part, farmers have built up good cash reserves so that they can self-insure themselves in a time when they experience a drought like this and their revenues are down.鈥�
Trickle Down
The 2002 drought caused more than a billion dollars in losses to the industry here, .
Nobody knows exactly how much will be lost this year.
But agriculture has been one bright spot for Colorado鈥檚 economy during the current economic downturn. Everyone from politicians to farm lobbyists say its continued health is key to the state鈥檚 economic recovery.
鈥淚f a farmer loses money on a crop then that translates into what he鈥檚 able to spend in the local economy,鈥� says Mark Sponsler, executive director of the . 鈥淎nd that has a big impact in terms of economic multipliers about how the state does in terms of revenue and overall economic health.鈥�
Climate scientists have been predicting that droughts will be the norm, not the exception, for this region in the years ahead, as the earth warms. But Sponsler cautions against making what he says would be rash decisions about what to plant in the future based on just one year of severe drought.
鈥淭his isn鈥檛 the first year that drought has been experienced in Colorado or across the US, and it no doubt won鈥檛 be the last,鈥� he says.
Mother Nature鈥檚 Wrath
Back in the cab of his combine, Dave Eckhart uses a joystick to dump wheat into a semi truck that鈥檚 pulled up alongside.
While recent rains have been a 鈥榞odsend,鈥� he says it鈥檚 a critical time for many of his crops, especially his corn.
And the long term forecast isn鈥檛 that promising.
鈥淲e鈥檙e used to hailstorms being Mother Nature鈥檚 wrath on us, where you go to bed and you have a perfect crop and you maybe don鈥檛 have anything,鈥� Eckhart says. 鈥淭he drought has been painful, it鈥檚 something that you watch over weeks, not just days, and you watch your crop, your investment disappear.鈥�
But Eckhart knows he鈥檚 not alone. Almost three-quarters of the country鈥檚 farm land is now under severe drought conditions. The federal government recently to help some eligible farmers cope.
But farm groups say it鈥檚 still too early to tell how many people will apply, let alone qualify.
