Hay – yes, hay – is sucking the Colorado River dry
When California, Arizona and Nevada agreed last week to stop using 3 million acre-feet of Colorado River water — about a trillion gallons — in order to protect their drinking supply, they took aim at one especially thirsty user: hay. So-called “forage crops” like alfalfa and Bermuda grass, which are used to feed livestock, mainly cattle, require mind-altering amounts of water to cultivate. For the next three years, the states agreed to pay farmers who ordinarily grow livestock feed $1.2 billion not to. That alone is estimated to conserve the lion’s share of the trillion-gallon target.