GRAY COUNTY, Kansas — In dry western Kansas, the sound of artificial rain spraying from center pivot irrigation sprinklers fills the spaces between the small towns.
Irrigation has turned this region into a productive agricultural powerhouse, churning out millions of bushels of grain.
Heath Koehn farms with his dad near Montezuma over the Ogallala aquifer that supplies farmers with irrigation and communities with drinking water. He knows that changes are coming to the way they farm.
“Changes are going to have to be made with that aquifer. It’s like adapt or die,” Koehn said.
A lot of farmers in the area feel the same way. The underground water supply that used to be plentiful is running dry fast. Some areas might only have a couple of decades left at current pumping rates.
In order to maintain life in western Kansas, farmers are contemplating pivoting to crops that use less water.
Koehn decided for the first time to grow something he’s never grown before: canola. He grew this instead of wheat due to wheat prices being so low.
“I've got some limited irrigation. I wanted to diversify and not just have all my eggs in one basket,” Koehn said.
That change might sound minor, but it’s a herculean task. The major systems that make up the complicated agriculture web are all built around irrigated commodity crops like corn, wheat and soybeans.
Growing anything else is rare because it comes with more risk and no guaranteed crop insurance or local buyers.
Koehn’s farm is an example of southwest Kansas farmers looking to the future and trying new crops to save water and prepare for western Kansas to become more parched.
What can we do?
The main problem lies within the crops that farmers grow. Traditional crops like corn and soybeans require a lot of water. The Kansas Geological Survey that monitors the underground water in the state estimates that 70% of the aquifer will be gone in 50 years.
Statewide, the amount of water pumped from underground and sprayed onto crops averages out to more than 2 billion gallons per day.
But Kansas State University has studied different crops that require less water and could be viable options in western Kansas.
Logan Simon, agronomist for K-State Research and Extension, said the western Kansas environment requires greater creativity from those in agriculture.
“All of the crops that we're looking at here are going to be providing some sort of benefit in the form of a reduction in the water required,” Simon said.
Earlier this year, Simon hosted alternative crop schools around western Kansas, offering information on what options farmers have. The standout choices are canola, cotton, camelina and cowpeas, which include black-eyed peas.
These crops not only require less water, but they can be harvested with equipment farmers already have and fit the same uses. Almost all commodities grown in western Kansas are for cattle feed or biofuels.
“The idea is not necessarily to replace all of these things, but provide alternatives to just build a more robust system,” Simon said.
A canola crushing plant opened last year in northwest Kansas giving a new market to farmers.
Canola compared to a crop like corn needs about 40% less water.
Not only does this save dwindling water supplies but it diversifies how farmers make their money. Instead of just one industry like livestock feed, a farmer can sell their products to multiple industries. The crops can be used for human consumption, biofuels or making textiles.
The problem with alternative crops
Alternative crops sound like they can solve all the water problems on the frontier. But so far, farmers aren’t giving up their acres of corn and wheat for peas and canola.
That’s because farming at the end of the day is a business. Farmers need to plant what will turn a profit.
“Imagine that you just couldn't make a salary this year,” ag economist for Iowa State University Chad Hart said.
In the current agricultural system, commodity crops like corn and soybeans are the most economically efficient, despite their water inefficiencies. Farmers really don’t have much of a choice if they want to make money.
“You have to be willing to accept more risk to establish that alternative crop, because there aren't these built in mechanisms that we usually have,” Hart said.
The agriculture system is built to avoid risk. Crop insurance, government subsidies and bank loans are all built around corn and other traditional commodity crops, not the possible alternatives.
Southwest Kansas is one of the most profitable regions in the state because of irrigated agriculture from the aquifer.
Corn profits can range to $160 per acre, while canola in a good year can hit $150 per acre.
But corn has a stable market and is heavily supported by crop insurance. With a crop like corn, a farmer in southwest Kansas might lose more water, but at least they can guarantee some income if there’s a drought or hailstorm. And they know that the local feedlots, grain elevators and ethanol plants will gladly buy their corn.
The same cannot be said for a cowpeas or canola.
“Just because you grow it doesn't mean you'll have customers,” Hart said. “Farmers have to spend more time thinking about how to market that crop.”
And local communities do not want to stop irrigating altogether. Irrigation brings in more money to farms, and to all the things the farm touches. The local grain elevators, the feedlots, the truck drivers and the meatpacking plants.
How did we get here
Congress first authorized federal crop insurance in the 1930s to help agriculture recover from the Dust Bowl.
It started as a way to compensate farmers if a natural disaster struck and ruined their crop yields, which farmers still need today.
But it also makes it harder for farmers to practice water efficient farming. For example, if for whatever reason an irrigated crop fails, farmers aren’t allowed to stop irrigating the failed crop because they need to prove they weren’t at fault for the crop failure. These “Good farming practices” are standards that guide crop insurance payments.
And crop insurance and subsidies are no small thing.
In 2025, government payments are projected to make up 23% of the total net farm income, a significant increase from 8-9% annually between 2022 and 2024.
According to Iowa State Research Extension, approximately 90% of acres growing corn and soybeans were insured using federal Revenue Protection programs.
Not only does this protect the farm's physical crops, but also all but guarantees a farmer will be paid even if the price for these commodities dip.
In 2024, the U.S. paid farmers over $2 billion to grow corn through the Emergency Commodity Assistance Program.
Times are changing
But farmers don’t want to only depend on crop insurance they want to grow successful crops.
Alex Millershaski, a farmer in Gray County, has seen a massive change over the years when it comes to how much water his land can produce.
“We used to have twenty-something wells on the farm, and we're only pumping four now," Millershaski said.
Millershaski is still skeptical of growing alternative crops, but having less water available is making him consider trying something different.
He has seen some neighbors try canola and cotton. And he thinks next year he will give canola a try in place of his usual wheat crop.
Canola doubled in acres planted last year in Kansas to 3000. And while cotton is expected to see a decline across the U.S., Kansas is expected to see almost a 13% increase.
Processors in western Kansas, like 21st Century Bean, make cowpeas more viable. They buy and process wholesale beans for human consumption.
All those factors make Millershaski open to look at the options.
“Do you want to try something different? And it's sometimes just that simple,” Millershaski said.
Calen Moore covers western Kansas for High Plains Public Radio and the Kansas News Service. You can email him at cmoore@hppr.org.
The Kansas News Service is a collaboration of KCUR, Kansas Public Radio, KMUW and High Plains Public Radio focused on health, the social determinants of health and their connection to public policy.
