In the wake of fires and floods
The simple truth is that farmers, collectively, are the thirstiest Colorado River gulpers by far. It’s no wonder then that Patrick O’Toole, a Wyoming rancher and president of the Family Farm Alliance, feels like he and his compatriots have a target painted on their backs. He warned that taking water off the farm will send food production overseas and devastate family farms, large and small. … What he didn’t say is that a lot of those farmers aren’t raising food; they’re growing alfalfa and other hay crops, and an awful lot of that hay gets shipped overseas. But whether we’re talking about fields of alfalfa or potatoes being fallowed, real people will be forced to pay the price of a changing climate.