Farmer Perceptions of Water Policy in Alabama and Georgia.

This research is conducted as part of a larger project examining the sustainability of the agricultural balance between the western U.S. and the southeastern U.S. The problematic is that the development of irrigation in the West has been highly subsidized and large state and federal water projects dot the landscape and it has become increasingly clear that this is unsustainable at current levels.  Public spending on water has allowed western farmers to avoid the drought problems faced by farmers in the other parts of the country but it has come at an enormous economic and ecological cost to a semi-arid region.   As California struggles with its water availability, delivery, subsidy, and cost, part of the obvious answer is to look towards parts of the country with high rainfall and inexpensive arable lands.  The underutilized southeast is under-purposed in this regard.  There are many challenges to growing Alabama and Georgia farming but two significant aspects include water policy limitations and a potential disjuncture between water policy as written and water perceptions of water policy could and should be.  This paper considers the latter.  Specifically, the author conducted a large-n survey of farmers in Alabama and Georgia.  This paper explores the relationship between water policy as written and water policy desired by farmers.  The author argues that only by rectifying that gap is it possible to ensure that policies serve as handmaidens for agricultural growth, making significant strides in the amelioration of southeastern agriculture.