Willingness of agricultural water users to participate in Environmental Water Leasing Program in the Middle Rio Grande Basin

As surface water stress intensifies across the western US, sustaining agricultural production and meeting environmental and urban water demands has increasingly become one of challenges to resource management in the region. This study examines the willingness of agricultural water users to participate in a voluntary seasonal fallowing program designed to reallocate water from agricultural to environmental uses without permanently retiring productive land in the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District in New Mexico. Using primary data from a large-scale survey, we model the sequential decision to participate and how many acres to fallow conditional on participation using the Heckman selection model. Results suggest that payment incentive and attitudes towards transferring water rights to environmental uses positively influence willingness to participate in the fallowing program. Experience in market-based land and water transactions is influential in both the decision to participate and how many acres to enroll. This suggests that payment may be more relevant in attracting program participation while the intensity of participation depends on factors that develop over time.