LAS VEGAS, NV. (December 13, 2022) – In advance of the 2022 Colorado River Water Users Association (CRWUA) Conference, December 14-16, Family Farm Alliance (Alliance) leaders and irrigated agriculture producers who depend on the waters of the Colorado River watershed are concerned that the issues most important to farmers and ranchers in the Basin will not be addressed at the three-day event.

“We intend to make the voice of Colorado River agriculture heard at CRWUA this year,” said Alliance President Patrick O’Toole, whose family owns and operates a sheep and cattle ranch near the headwaters of the Colorado River in Wyoming. “We’re tired of the relentless demonization of agriculture coming from competing interests, whose main solution appears to be questioning the viability of producing alfalfa and other forage crops in the Colorado River Basin.”

A recent white paper released by the Alliance and the California Farm Water Coalition tells the “other side of the story” about alfalfa, not often conveyed in media accounts of Colorado River water battles.

The CRWUA conference will bring together water officials, policymakers and interest groups from across the Basin, which includes seven U.S. states, 30 Native American tribes and the Country of Mexico.

Alliance leaders intend to engage at CRWUA to underscore the importance of protecting Western irrigated agriculture, using policy principles adopted by the board of directors earlier this year.

“Our Colorado River producers are upset by the way they are being treated in the media,” said Don Schwindt, an Alliance director who farms near Cortez, Colorado. “At CRWUA, and from here on out, we will demand that the same level of alertness and priority placed by policy makers on water supply for health and human safety purposes also be applied to the full value of irrigation in the Colorado River Basin.”

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CHECK OUT the entire Family Farm Alliance press release HERE.

Contact: Patrick O’Toole (970)–376-6311