First they lost in court. Then they lost their crops.
Now, about 200 northern Colorado farmers, whose wells were shut off early this summer, are being denied full federal crop-insurance compensation.
The losses are still being tallied, but crop-insurance agents say the cut in coverage is leading some farmers to call it quits.
The water crisis culminated in May when state engineer Hal Simpson turned off the pumps after farmers failed to prove in water court that they could replenish water they were taking from the South Platte River.
In Wiggins, the site of many of the shut wells, desiccated corn stalks have been left in the ground to keep some fields from blowing away. Others are vacant except for weeds.
Anticipating the looming water crunch, Dave and Margey Knievel chose not to gamble with their crops.
The Wiggins couple planted only a small portion of their wheat crop and skipped corn entirely.
The couple paid more than $11,000 in crop-insurance premiums.
They assumed the federal program would cover part of their losses – which included the forgone corn crop, worth about $200,000.
The Knievels say they’ve been told by their agent to expect coverage on the small portion of their 350-acre farm that had guaranteed water.
Instead of an estimated $69,000 insurance payment for 100 percent coverage, Knievel estimates he’ll get about $11,600.
Others, the Knievels say, are faring worse.
“In Wiggins, even our liquor store is for sale,” Knievel said. “No one has enough money to buy even alcohol.”
Risk Management Agency, the U.S. Department of Agriculture division that operates the crop-insurance program, has instructed providers to cover losses only on crops irrigated with water that the farmers were guaranteed before planting season began.
That equaled about 15 percent of their historical pumping levels.
If farmers planted more than that, those losses will not be covered, crop insurance agents say.
Ray Baer, a longtime insurance agent in Wiggins, said about 30 farmers have filed claims with his office.
Some of the farmers are reporting losses on more than half the amount of acreage planted, Baer said.
“It hurts,” he said. “Our community has just been devastated because of this situation.”
Some of the farmers had already planted their crops when Simpson’s order came down and could do little more than watch the crops die.
Most assumed that crop insurance would cover their losses.
In Colorado, crop insurance covered 100 percent of potatoes, 84 percent of wheat and 80 percent of corn grown in the state in 2005.
“I paid my premiums, but there’s no way I could anticipate the rules were going to be changed halfway through the game,” Hudson farmer John Mosier said.
In a letter to Congresswoman Marilyn Musgrave, Rebecca Davis, director of RMA’s office in Topeka, Kan., says the agency did everything to make sure the farmers had a safety net for weather-related disasters.
But the loss of irrigation water in northern Colorado wasn’t entirely weather-driven either, she said.
“For irrigated coverage, producers must have a reasonable expectation at the time of planting of having an adequate water supply to produce the yield upon which his or her coverage is based,” Davis said.
Still, the claim denials come as a surprise to the district in charge of finding water for the farmers.
“I honestly thought they would be covered anywhere from 50 to 75 percent,” said Tom Cech, director of the Central Colorado Water Conservancy District. “This is just another slap in the face for these farmers.”
The shutdown resulted from a long- standing dispute between farmers who pump water from underground aquifers and farmers who irrigate their crops with South Platte River water.
Farmers who use river water for irrigation watched their crops die during the 2002 drought while others overpumped the aquifer, which is hydrologically tied to the river.
Attorneys for the river irrigators said they don’t have much sympathy for farmers who planted knowing they did not have enough water for irrigation.
“To plant above that, then either others misrepresented the facts of this case to them, or they made a move that clearly wasn’t a prudent one,” said Tim Buchanan, an Arvada attorney representing more than a dozen irrigation and ditch companies.
Buchanan recently told the State Engineer’s Office that he and some of his clients suspect farmers have used their pumps this summer despite a court order not to use them.
Simpson, the state engineer, said he is in the process of checking out some of Bu chan an’s allegations – some haven’t been proved, while others are still under investigation.
Because of the state law requiring groundwater pumpers to replenish rivers they tap, the Central Colorado Water Conservancy District will once again have to try to find supplemental water for the farmers.
Knievel said he doesn’t think he’ll ever be able to use the groundwater pumps.
“They’ll never be turned back on,” he said. “It’s as likely as Noah’s ark floating down the Platte River.”
Staff writer Kim McGuire can be reached at 303-954-1240 or kmcguire@denverpost.com.
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