Before blaming alfalfa for Colorado’s water woes, consider what the headlines leave out
By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project
Alfalfa and water use: comparing apples to oranges
There is a media narrative out there about alfalfa which, though not entirely wrong, is desperately in need of context; this being another example of why reporters parachuting into rural areas of the state to report on things prior to running back to the Front Range is doing no one any good (rural or urban).
The claim was recently repeated in a Sun article, along with its natural follow-on. Quoting from the first link below:
“It takes 44 inches of water a year in Burlington to grow alfalfa. Only about 10 inches of water drops on Burlington in a year. It only takes 15 inches of water to grow a healthy crop of black-eyed peas in Burlington. So. The numbers ...



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