Water Resources Research Act Program

Details for Project ID 2007NE152B

Improving Estimates of the Value of Irrigated Land in the Republican Watershed

Institute: Nebraska
Year Established: 2007 Start Date: 2007-03-01 End Date: 2008-02-29
Total Federal Funds: $12,791 Total Non-Federal Funds: $26,398

Principal Investigators: Steven Shultz, Roger Sindt

Project Summary: This research will improve and refine recent estimates of the value of irrigation (and the likely costs of retiring irrigation rights) in the Republican Watershed based on multiple-regression modeling of agricultural land sales. Reported irrigation equipment values included with sales and estimated irrigation pumping potential on sold land will be verified, and year 2006 sales will be incorporated into the analyses. The research will involve student training and lead to a larger proposal to replicate the research in the Platte River Watershed. First, year 2006 sales (approximately 200 sales), will incorporated into the modeling of irrigation values in the Republican Watershed in order to account for rapidly changing conditions in the watershed with regards to surface and groundwater supplies, and allowable levels of irrigation. Second, a survey of a random selection of recent buyers and/or sellers of irrigated land in the Republican Watershed (n= 300) will be administered in order to: A) Determine the accuracy of reported irrigation equipment values associated with approximately 30% of all irrigated land sales in which no irrigation values were reported in the State of Nebraska Property Transaction database. B) Assess the accuracy of GIS-based estimates of the pumping capacity of irrigation wells associated with sold agricultural parcels. Finally, the impact of revised and updated irrigation equipment and well capacity data on previous estimates of the value of irrigation by re-estimating hedonic multiple regression models and evaluating the new results.