Colorado Farmers Cut Planted Acreage Amid Record Drought
With snowpack hitting record lows, growers are slashing production by 50% to manage critical water shortages.
Updated on Oct. 15, 2026 in Agriculture
Live Poll
Is now a good time to invest in small-scale farming in drought-prone areas?
Colorado farmers are navigating historic water shortages following the lowest recorded snowpack in state history in 2026. Many operations, including DiTomaso Farms in Pueblo, have been forced to leave approximately half of their land unplanted to manage limited irrigation supplies.
Why it matters
Record-low snowpack has fundamentally constrained available irrigation water, forcing growers to fallow significant portions of their land and prioritize crops with the highest economic returns. Operators are adapting by condensing production footprints and shifting irrigation management strategies to survive sustained drought conditions.
Colorado farmers have responded to the 2026 record-low snowpack by leaving roughly 50% of their land unplanted. Operations are limiting field sizes to manage water, with major chile producers like DiTomaso Farms reducing their largest fields to 8 acres.
The players
DiTomaso Farms
A Pueblo-based agricultural operation specializing in chiles, sweet corn, tomatoes, cantaloupes, and watermelons.
Bessemer Ditch
A critical irrigation infrastructure system that supplies water to farms in the Pueblo region.
The details
To manage severe water scarcity, growers are concentrating limited supplies on the highest-revenue crops like chiles, sweet corn, and tomatoes. Farms such as DiTomaso Farms are implementing 12-hour irrigation sets to maximize water utility. By shrinking individual planting footprints, operators attempt to maintain yields on smaller, more efficient plots while fallowing the remainder of their acreage to balance available ditch water allocations.
Timeline
2026 marked the lowest snowpack level in Colorado's recorded history.
Market Landscape
The 2026 season represents a new extreme in Colorado's historical snowpack data, forcing a shift in how regional growers utilize water rights. This trend follows years of escalating drought pressure that has increasingly centralized agricultural operations around limited, high-efficiency irrigation delivery.
Operators in drought-prone areas should re-evaluate their crop mix and irrigation infrastructure to prioritize high-margin yields when water allotments are restricted. Reviewing your specific ditch or water rights usage data is essential to planning planting schedules for future seasons of potential supply volatility.
The takeaway
The 2026 snowpack shortfall highlights that water scarcity now dictates planting capacity more than market demand. Operators should maintain detailed records of their 12-hour irrigation sets and crop yield data to inform future land-use decisions when water supply limits are announced.
Further reading
For more on the state's agricultural resilience, see our coverage of Colorado Agriculture.
Source note: This article includes information reported by Rocky Mountain PBS.
Live Poll
Is now a good time to invest in small-scale farming in drought-prone areas?
