Rural electrification and irrigation in the US high plains.

摘要

The paper describes how the US government's rural electrification programme, which began in the 1930s, has played a critical role in the development of the agricultural economy of the High Plains, a region characterized by low precipitation, extremetemperatures and recurring drought. Rural electric cooperatives and low-cost, government-supplied electricity made large scale, groundwater-based irrigated farming both profitable and very productive. For many of the High Plains rural electric cooperatives, groundwater-based irrigation generates a very large share of their total electricity sales and operating revenues. Declining groundwater levels and rising irrigation energy costs, however, have caused significant reductions in total irrigated cropland. Many of the electric cooperatives will continue to be confronted with declining revenues unless electric rates are raised or government subsidies for the rural electrification programme increase. This raises serious questions about the continued economic viability of the High Plains rural electrification industry, as well as about the future of the region's agricultural economy.