IMPACTS OF ENERGY COST INCREASES ON IRRIGATED LAND VALUES

Norman K. Whittlesey and Jon P. Herrell

Western Journal of Agricultural Economics, 1987, vol. 12, issue 01, 7

Abstract: Irrigation development in the Pacific Northwest expanded rapidly during the 1960s and 1970s when economic conditions, including very cheap electricity for pumping water, were favorable for this activity. Thousands of acre of land were irrigated that required lifting water 400 feet or more. The cost of energy for irrigation pumping has risen as much as 400% in recent years, and many of these high pump lift farms are in serious economic difficulty. This study shoes that farms with pump lifts exceeding 400 feet will not be able to replace capital irrigation equipment to remain in production in the long run. Land values on these farms will be determined by dryland production alternatives leaving no rents to sustain the incentive for irrigation.

Keywords: Land Economics/Use; Resource/Energy Economics and Policy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1987
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/32476/files/12010001.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ags:wjagec:32476

DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.32476

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Western Journal of Agricultural Economics from Western Agricultural Economics Association Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by AgEcon Search ().