Hay Production

“This story is really pretty simple. Irrigators take as much water out of streams as they legally can to make their water rights look bigger, and growing hay makes this possible. Cities buy agricultural water rights, so they have a future water supply to grow into. They have the same motives as irrigators, to divert as much as possible from the stream so their water rights look bigger. Upper Basin states want to show the highest diversions possible to keep from having to share water with Lower Basin states, so the more water we divert, the better. The system rewards overuse on every field, in every basin, in every state in the West without regard to river health. And it’s been this way from the 1800s to 2026.”