WE’RE WORKING ON SOMETHING, BUT WE’RE NOT READY TO MAKE PROMISES

I’ve spent a lot of time lately thinking about one question:

How do we conserve Colorado’s water without weakening Colorado agriculture?

There are plenty of programs, studies and big ideas out there. Some have accomplished good things. Others never seem to make it much farther than a report, meeting or press release.

I don’t want Cattleman’s Creed to become another one of those.

So we’re beginning work on a concept that looks at the entire agricultural water cycle instead of focusing only on how much water comes out of an irrigation system.

Water. Soil. Crops. Livestock. Irrigation. Groundwater. Return flows. Forest health. Conservation. And most importantly, the economics of the farm or ranch.

The idea we’re developing is simple in principle:

Make every gallon of water working in agriculture accomplish as much as reasonably possible while keeping the producer economically strong.

That could eventually mean testing better irrigation management, soil-moisture monitoring, soil amendments such as compost and biochar, improved soil health practices, and, where Colorado water law and geology allow it, ways of slowing and retaining water on the landscape or helping water move back into the ground.

But I want to be very clear about something.

We are not claiming any of this works yet.

We’re not announcing that we’ve discovered a miracle way to save Colorado’s water.

We’re developing a plan to find out what actually works.

And if we move forward with field demonstrations, I want controls. I want measurements. I want soil samples. I want flow meters. I want water-use records. I want crop yields. I want fertilizer costs. I want independent scientific involvement.

And I want the farmer’s financial results sitting right beside the conservation results.

Because conserving water while putting a farmer out of business isn’t success.

Neither is producing a beautiful government report that sits on a shelf.

If we’re going to do this, it needs to work in the dirt.

My hope is eventually to establish working demonstration farms or ranches in different parts of Colorado where these ideas can be tested under actual agricultural conditions over several years.

Some ideas will probably work.

Some probably won’t.

We intend to report both.

And before we decide what farmers and ranchers need, we’re going to ask them.

What are you seeing with your wells?

What are you seeing in your soil?

Where are you losing money?

What conservation practices have actually worked?

Which ones haven’t?

What would make your operation stronger 10 or 20 years from now?

That’s where this starts.

Not in Denver.

Not in Washington.

On the ground with the people who work it.

If eventually the numbers prove we’ve found better ways to protect water, strengthen soil and improve agricultural economics, we’ll take those results wherever they need to go.

And if the numbers prove us wrong, we’ll say that too.

That’s the standard I want for Cattleman’s Creed.

No miracle claims.

No predetermined conclusions.

No conservation at the expense of agriculture.

Measure it. Prove it. Make sure the producer can afford it. Then decide whether it’s worth expanding.

🇺🇸 Cattleman’s Creed

Protect the water. Strengthen the soil. Support the producer. Preserve American agriculture.