16 POTATO GROWER | MARCH 2020
There is a harsh reality facing San Luis
Valley farmers in the drier, warmer
climate of our future.
In 2006, Valley farmers developed a
groundwater conservation plan with the
Colorado Division of Water Resources.
The conservation plan has resulted in
an impressive thirty percent reduction
in groundwater pumping since its 2006
implementation, but at a cost for farmers.
The plan attempts to bring the over-
appropriated groundwater aquifer into
balance to ensure long-term sustainability,
and nearly all potato growers in the area
have sacrificed water and taken creative
measures to reduce their pumping.
Spud Grower Farms, under the leadership
of Jeff McCullough, is a prime example
of an innovative, optimistic and practical
approach to the change that is necessary
to achieve long-term sustainability.
McCullough is the fourth generation of his
family to farm in the San Luis Valley since
the 1930s.
AGGRESSIVELY
CONSERVATIVE
APPROACH
Spud Grower
Farms stresses
innovation
for aquifer
sustainability
By Sarah Ehrlich
Photos courtesy Colorado Potato Administrative Committee
