Water is a valuable commodity for farmers in Ohio; other states are not so lucky

In a recent article, I discussed the loss of farmland that has occurred in the last few decades and reinforced a fact those in agriculture realize all too well. When land is developed, concrete and asphalt laid, factories built or condos placed, the land is permanently lost for future production.

And, as I related in that previous article, we continue to lose farmland at a consistent rate each year. I appreciate the readers who have commented on this article and have taken time to stop and add their ideas and concerns to my own.

One concern I hadn’t looked at is related to the quality, in addition to the quantity, of the land we are losing. It seems like land being purchased in our region is land not only very productive, but land that does not require irrigation since annual rainfall traditionally provides the water needed for crops in Ohio. We have been fortunate. This is not the case in other parts of the U.S. where additional water is needed for crops to survive and irrigation systems are essential.

In the Great Plains region, one major source of water for irrigation is the Ogalla Aquifer, an underground source of water running from South Dakota to Texas. It is a water source for parts of eight states and more than 11 million acres that depend on it for crop production.

Unfortunately, and of great concern, is the decreasing level of water available in the aquifer due to increased usage. In some places, it is already too low for irrigation to be effective. In other places, wells have to be deepened to reach the water. Environmentalists predict once this water is depleted, it will take 6,000 years of natural rainfall to replenish it.

In California, where large numbers of the country’s fruits and vegetables are produced, more than 10 million acres of farmland are dependent on irrigation and battles are raging between suburban and agricultural interests over the diminishing water supplies.

What does all this mean? Should we as a nation be concerned about the future of farmland as it relates to water availability? Should there be a higher priority on protecting land that survives on natural water sources? However, it will be hard to keep this land in production when developers are offering exorbitant prices for it.

Water may not always be as plentiful as we now have it. As we in Ohio and surrounding states look to the future, we have one advantage many parts of the country do not have. We have sufficient rain, rivers, lakes and streams to provide us with an abundance of water. This part of the country we now call the Corn Belt may in the future be referred to as the Water Belt, provided we have enough productive land to make full use of the water available.

Chuck Bell is a former 4-H Educator for Muskingum County.

This article originally appeared on Zanesville Times Recorder: Water is a valuable commodity for farmers in Ohio; other states are not so lucky