Ulysses-area farmer Larry Kepley explains why he has quit irrigating his crop fields as he stands next to an old flood irrigation pond. Kepley said he quit irrigating after he figured he was losing $35 an acre because of soaring energy costs. By Travis Morisse
ULYSSES - Flood irrigation pipe lies in a heap next to the emerging wheat field.
Larry Kepley is hoping someone comes by sometime wanting to purchase some of it.
He has no use for it anymore, after all. Last year, he only pumped from his water well for two days before turning it off for good.
The Ulysses-area farmer never really imagined it coming to this when he first came back to the farm in the 1970s - the day when it would cost too much to irrigate his crops, shutting down the wells his grandfather and father first drilled in the 1940s.
His grandfather was the third in Grant County to get a water right to tap into the Ogallala Aquifer and underground reservoir beneath the High Plains.
Others followed, turning the arid prairie into an oasis of sorts. But natural gas, one method used to draw water to the surface, is too costly these days. And even without irrigating, Kepley figures he could lose $35 an acre this year because of soaring energy prices.
"It doesn't make economic sense anymore," he said of irrigating.
Not far south, Kirk Heger lamented the same concerns. It will be the first year in nearly 40 since his grandfather and father drilled the Stevens County farm's first irrigation wells that corn won't be planted.
In 2005, Heger had 4,000 acres of corn under center-pivot sprinklers. This spring, he plans to sow more sorghum, sunflowers and soybeans - crops that use less water than corn. Things could change between now and planting time.
"But I don't see it changing," he said of the plans. "I don't see how it could unless the price of corn goes up and the price of fuel goes down."
Last summer, he averaged about $6 per million British thermal units for natural gas to pump water to his corn crop. This year, he expects prices to skyrocket to more than $9 per mmBtu.
Kansas farmers have been battling high-energy costs for months, paying more for natural gas use and to fertilize their fields. Also among the nation's biggest users of diesel, gasoline and other petroleum products, they have doled out thousands of dollars more as prices remain high.
Economists say 2006 could be equally as tough. And in an era where the trend is fewer farmers and larger farms, this year could mean even more farm sales.
"This happens every year, but in '06, it will be bigger," said Kansas State University Extension agriculture economist Kevin Dhuyvetter. "There are going to be some people that will say it's not worth fighting anymore."
All in the same boat
Across Kansas, farmers are echoing Kepley and Heger's concerns. Stanton County farmer Steve Ellis said he is reducing fertilizer rates to 60 percent as well as decreasing planting rates this spring in hopes of pumping less water. Others still are crunching the numbers.
