Cornhusker Economics

Analysis of Potential Groundwater Trading Programs for Nebraska

The goals of a recently funded project to measure the potential benefits of developing a groundwater trading market in Nebraska is discussed in this Cornhusker Economics article. Groundwater is a major component of agricultural water use. In extensive regions of the Western United States, rural agricultural economies rely entirely on groundwater. At the same time as providing water for human needs, groundwater is also an input to streams, wetlands and riparian areas that provide important ecosystem services. Ongoing groundwater pumping will deplete flows in adjacent streams, leading to potential conflict between human and environmental uses of water. In the last decades, many conflicts over transboundary allocations of water, endangered species and instream and riparian habitat have been driven by surface water-groundwater interaction. For example, claims have been filed with the United States Supreme Court over the impacts of groundwater use on flows of transboundary rivers for the Pecos River (Texas vs. New Mexico), the Arkansas River (Kansas vs. Colorado) and the Republican River (Kansas vs. Nebraska and Colorado). Groundwater has typically been viewed as private property, and its use in agriculture is generally neither regulated nor quantified precisely. However, there is growing interest in moving to systems that regulate groundwater use. The ability to trade groundwater allocations is often a part of such conversations.

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Past Issues

Analysis of Potential Groundwater Trading Programs for Nebraska by Karina Schoengold (May 9)
With Prices Like This, Who Needs to Know Cost of Production? by Tina Barrett (May 2)
Innovation for the Future! - 27th Annual Nebraska WIA Conference by Cheryl Griffith (April 25)
Community Images: What They Communicate to New Residents by Cheryl Burkhart-Kriesel (April 18)
Census 2010: What We No Longer Know About Small and Rural Places by Randy Cantrell (April 11)
Nebraska’s Written Contracts Rule by David Aiken (April 4)
The Economics of Bunk Feeding Distillers Grains to Feeder Steers on Pasture by Matt Stockton and Aaron Stalker (March 28)
Don’t Forget the Supply Side of Agricultural Land Markets by Bruce Johnson (March 21)
The Increasing Use of Unallocated Retained Earnings by Farmer Cooperatives by Jeff Royer (March 14)
Nebraska Farmland Values Soar by Bruce Johnson (March 7)
From Farm Income Support to Risk Management by Brad Lubben (February 29)
Nebraska Restrictions on Foreign Land Ownership by David Aiken (February 22)
Consumer Attitudes and Labeling Regimes as Determinants of the Market Success of Food Nanotechnology by Emie Yiannaka (February 15)
Water Management Funding Issues by Dave Aiken (February 8)
Nebraska Leads the Way to Help Beginning Farmers and Ranchers by Dave Goeller (February 1)
Foreign Land Investments in Developing Countries by Wes Peterson (January 25)
What Cost, Biomass for Fuel? by Richard Perrin, Kassu Wamisho, and Derege Bacha Megressa (Jaunary 18)
Tempering the Over-Use and Abuse of Common-Pool Resources by Marianna Khachaturyan and Gary Lynne (January 11)
Farm Lease Termination by David Aiken (January 4)