Note to readers • This article is published through the Colorado River Collaborative, a solutions journalism initiative supported by the Janet Quinney Lawson Institute for Land, Water, and Air at Utah State University.
Farms are quickly becoming mementos of a different time in Moab.
Over the four decades Gary Wilson has grown alfalfa in this touristy corner of southeast Utah, his fields have increasingly become islands in a sea of new development.
“Agriculture is getting a little thinner in these counties, that’s for sure. I don’t know that it’s any different in St. George or Salt Lake or Orem,” he said. “All seems like it’s the same as here.”
Utah’s growing fast, and that has a big domino effect on the state’s housing development, water consumption and agriculture.
One of Wilson’s fields on Moab’s south side illustrates this first domino to fall. After kicking through knee-high green stems, he arrived at the fenceline and pointed next door.
A neighboring field that he previously leased and farmed has transformed into a subdivision with around two dozen modern southwest-style homes. One of the houses that sold in 2024 was listed for $1.25 million.
(David Condos | KUER) Farmer Gary Wilson stands in one of his alfalfa fields in Moab, Utah, Sept. 17, 2024. For years, he also farmed the land next to this field, but it has been developed into large homes in recent years.
“We don’t have any hard feelings against our neighbors, that’s for sure. Just lots of them,” he said with a chuckle.
It’s a common story across Utah, which continues to be one of the country’s fastest-growing states. An influx of people and money pushes land values up, and many farmers decide to cash out. Home prices in Moab’s Grand County jumped 642% from 1993 to 2023, according to federal data. So when farmland is put up for sale, local farmers have a hard time competing with developers’ pockets.
“Over half of the property we used to farm is not here anymore,” Wilson said. “Every piece of that property is in a housing development.”
Grand County lost nearly a quarter of its farms between 2017 and 2022, according to data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Wilson doesn’t have any plans to quit, but he understands why others here have.
“I don’t think it’s going to survive too long, personally, I think there’s going to be a very [small] amount of people here that survive with the agricultural business.”
Ag water goes urban
That’s the tough reality facing much of the Utah farming community. But here’s a key thing to keep in mind: Those farms had water rights — a silver lining for Utah’s booming, thirsty cities.
When farmland gets developed, its allotment of water often gets transferred to municipalities. Essentially, water that was once used to irrigate crops can flow to kitchen sinks.
“These transfers are happening in Moab, across Utah and across the western United States, and they’ve been happening for decades,” said David Rosenberg, a Utah State University professor who studies water management. “And they’re just really important to understand because they’re a potential source of additional water for urban water users.”
There’s a lot of uncertainty about exactly how much water the transfers might free up for cities, Rosenberg said, and a whole bunch of factors determine how far that water can stretch.
(David Condos |KUER) Alfalfa grows in Wilson’s field next to former farmland that’s been developed into a neighborhood. Sept. 17, 2024.
On the agricultural side, the seniority of the water right matters because a farm may have been at the bottom of the pecking order and often didn’t get to use its full allotment. It’s also important to know how much of the farm’s irrigation was used by the crop, as opposed to drifting into the air through evapotranspiration or returning to the system as runoff. Then in cities, local zoning rules about landscaping and the efficiency of irrigation controls can have an impact.
Housing density is another big factor. According to the Utah Division of Water Rights, the average domestic water use for a Utah family is 0.45 acre-feet per year, although Rosenberg noted that number can vary widely based on a water user’s behavior. One acre-foot is enough water to cover an acre of ground a foot deep in water. Irrigated farmland can use up to six acre-feet of water per acre in Utah.
So, depending on how many houses are built per acre, a neighborhood could end up using less water than the farm that previously occupied that same land.
Despite the uncertainty, Utah cities count on these transfers to help sustain future growth. Washington County, for instance, expects that converting farm fields into homes will free up around 7% of the extra municipal water it will need as it grows into the 2040s.
Utah’s state water plan estimates ag-to-urban transfers will offer between 27,000 and 45,000 acre-feet to Utah’s urban water supplies this decade alone. Based on the state’s average domestic water use estimate, that could potentially be enough to supply one year’s worth of water for up to 90,000 households.
That’s a big deal in a dry state, especially with the future of major sources like the Colorado River in limbo. And it illustrates why it’s vital to better understand these transfers, Rosenberg said.
“It won’t address all the water issues that Utah has — or water needs — but it’s an important component of a portfolio,” he said. “And having a portfolio of options, including water conservation, water reuse, water for ecosystems — these are all really important.”
Big cities, small farms
As Moab’s disappearing farmland shows, however, these urban water gains come at a cost for Utah agriculture.
It doesn’t necessarily mean the end of farming near cities, though — if farming can adapt.
One potential solution is for farms to get smaller. Roslynn McCann, a sustainable communities specialist with Utah State University extension in Moab, said there are lots of benefits when farms produce food for the local community on a small scale rather than a large commodity crop operation.
“I see a big potential in that in the Moab area, especially as conversations increase about water conservation and our water issues in Utah,” McCann said. “Using that water to grow our own food and increase our self-sufficiency as a community.”
Down the street from Wilson’s alfalfa field, there’s an example that shows how this can work. Rhonda Gotway Clyde’s Easy Bee Farm is just a couple of acres. And it’s relatively new, at least in ag years. She bought it in 2007.
( David Condos |KUER) Small-scale farms have the potential to be more water-efficient than larger agricultural operations. Clyde has seen water savings since installing drip irrigation to replace sprinklers, like the one seen here, Aug. 19, 2024.
It took a lot of work — years of applying compost and alfalfa mulch — to turn the red sandy dirt here into rich black soil, she said. Now, they grow 40 different kinds of produce from cherry tomatoes to leafy greens.
“I’m a plant person. I like to talk to the plants,” she said. “Sometimes I wonder what I’m doing farming, but I love the plants.”
Smaller farms can be more water-efficient, too.
Clyde switched to drip irrigation in 2017, and she said it uses about half as much water as the overhead sprinklers she had before. A USU study that Rosenberg was part of also suggested small-scale farms and home gardens tend to use less water per acre than large-scale agricultural activities like alfalfa.
In a remote, desert community like Moab where a lot of food comes from thousands of miles away, Clyde said it’s important to offer residents fresher, healthier options, too.
Easy Bee Farm sells produce to people in Moab through a subscription service and a farm stand Clyde set up on her property in 2023. She’s seen demand rise, and that tracks statewide. A 2024 USU survey suggested Utahns are increasingly interested in buying local fruit.
She’s also begun to work with federal food assistance programs to offer her harvest to more lower-income Utahns and has a work share program where people can put in a few hours at her farm and earn a basket of produce.
“We’re feeding a lot of people,” Clyde said. “It’s a feel-good thing.”
And as Utah neighborhoods continue to gobble up farmland and look for water, there’ll be even more mouths to feed.
KSL TV photographer Mark Wetzel contributed to this story.
