Nebraska

Nebraska Urges Action on Canal Fight with Colorado

Thu, 30 Oct 2025 11:56:56 GMT

Claims and counterclaims come in and out like seasonal stream flows in the ongoing fight between Colorado and Nebraska over the Perkins County Canal.

Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser and State Engineer Jason Ullman met with the state legislature’s Joint Water Resources and Agriculture Review Committee on Oct. 29. The hearing was to update the legislators on Nebraska’s lawsuit against Colorado, launched July 16, over a proposed canal on the South Platte River, an important source of irrigation water for both states.

“Our position is there is no case that’s yet ripe,” Weiser told the committee. “We’ve told the Supreme Court that this case is not ready for prime time, and the court should decline to hear it.”

Just minutes before the hearing began, however, Nebraska’s Attorney General Mike Hilgers issued a request to the U.S. Supreme Court , urging them to pursue the lawsuit and reject Colorado’s request for denial.

These are just the most recent events in a fight over water rights on the South Platte River that started July 16 when Nebraska sued Colorado .

On the one hand, Nebraska claims Colorado is violating the South Platte River Compact , which governs water sharing on the river between the states, is stealing water owed to Nebraska, and is hurting Nebraskan agriculture as a result.

On the other hand, Colorado claims Nebraska’s lawsuit is “meritless,” and has threatened the state and its agricultural property owners along the proposed canal path with unprecedented use of eminent domain.

Backstory Behind the Current Back-and-Forth

The compact, signed between the two states in 1923, outlined the right for Nebraska to create the Perkins County Canal in Colorado “for the diversion of water from the South Platte River within Colorado for irrigation of lands in Nebraska” during the non-irrigation season. Nebraska’s lawsuit asserts that Colorado has blocked its efforts to build this canal.

In the lawsuit’s bill of complaint , Nebraska says it initiated the building effort in 2022, including initial land acquisition talks with Colorado landowners in the projected canal area and “communicated no fewer than ten times between October 2022 and June 2025” with Colorado’s legal and technical representatives.

“Despite Nebraska’s best efforts to secure cooperation, Colorado has stonewalled and opposed Nebraska at every step,” the complaint reads.

Meanwhile, Colorado says there’s been no canal effort to block.

“For the century plus that this compact has been in place, Nebraska has declined to build such a canal,” Weiser said. “They have taken only the most preliminary steps thus far and there is a significant permitting process they will have to go through if they are serious. Many of these steps they have yet to do.”

Nebraska’s Oct. 29 request to the Supreme Court calls earlier such claims made Weiser and others untrue.

“Nebraska has spent millions of dollars on designs, permitting, legal and consulting fees, right-of-way investigations, and infrastructure engineering for the Canal,” the request document reads. “The design is substantially developed, and all major engineering decisions have been made. Nebraska has already acquired 80 acres in Colorado to facilitate Canal construction.”

Question of State-to-State Eminent Domain

Those Colorado acres came from one landowner who sold to Nebraska after it reached out to landowners along the proposed route in late 2022. While the lawsuit document characterized this initial outreach as amiable with Colorado landowners, saying it offered six Colorado landowners 115% of fair market value for their properties, Colorado characterized Nebraska’s later interactions — which included threats of condemnation — as threatening.

Ullman told committee members, “We are aware that [Nebraska] made these offers and threats of condemnation to a limited group of landowners at the location where the head gate of the canal was going to be, not along the 13 additional miles of canal that is necessary.”

Colorado state Sen. Byron Pelton (R-District 1), who represents the area where the Perkins County Canal would go, said the situation has been hard on those in his agriculture-dependent district.

“They are concerned about where their water is coming from,” he said. Pelton added that “$4.6 billion is generated with agriculture just in my district alone, and that’s because of the South Platte River and the Republican River basin.”

But he also questioned the seriousness of Nebraska’s negotiation efforts in light of the threats of eminent domain against Colorado farmers, ranchers and growers.

“It has been my experience growing up farming and ranching my entire life that whenever you walk into somebody’s property, walk into somebody’s place of business, and threaten eminent domain, everything shuts down — there is no more negotiation,” he said. “[Nebraska has] done nothing but threaten eminent domain from the very beginning.”

With some limitations, however, the compact grants Nebraska “the right to acquire by purchase, prescription, or the exercise of eminent domain” lands and easements necessary for the canal. In its lawsuit, Nebraska recognized that element of the compact as “exceptional.” It nonetheless asserts that it had moved to exerting this right only after meeting with Colorado landowners and met with “little success.”

Even though the right of eminent domain is in the compact, Weiser described it as potentially opening up “some novel, unprecedented territory” should the canal effort move forward.

“If this process is to get started — the eminent domain process, the condemnation process — that will generate some legal question,” Weiser said. “Our position is Colorado’s law of eminent domain is the only eminent domain law that applies in the state of Colorado.”

Agriculture in the Bull's-Eye: Raids Reportedly Resume on Farms, Meatpacking Plants

Fri, 20 Jun 2025 18:40:22 GMT

After President Donald Trump reportedly ordered Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE ) to pause raids on farms and meatpacking plants last week, new reports say the administration is reversing course again. The on-again, off-again reports regarding ICE raids is sowing confusion for those who rely on immigrant labor and already causing labor shortages due to employees not showing up for work.

There was an update again late Friday, with President Trump saying he’s looking at new immigration policy steps that would allow farms to take responsibility for people they hire.

The Washington Post first reported Monday that ICE officials told leaders representing field offices across the country they must continue to conduct raids at worksite locations, which is a reversal from guidance issued just days earlier.

Officials with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) wouldn’t confirm the Washington Post’s report, but an agricultural association told Farm Journal the article is accurate based on their discussions with the administration.

Instead, DHS told us this:

“The president has been incredibly clear. There will be no safe spaces for industries who harbor violent criminals or purposely try to undermine ICE’s efforts,” says DHS assistant secretary Tricia McLaughlin. “Worksite enforcement remains a cornerstone of our efforts to safe guard public safety, national security and economic stability. These operations target illegal employment networks that undermine American workers, destabilize labor markets and expose critical infrastructure to exploitation.”

By Friday, there was another update. Reuters reported President Trump said he was looking at immigration policy steps that would allow farms to take responsibility for people they hire.

“We’re looking at doing something where, in the case of good, reputable farmers, they can take responsibility for the people that they hire and let them have responsibility, because we can’t put the farms out of business,” Trump told reporters. “And at the same time we don’t want to hurt people that aren’t criminals.”

According to Farm Journal’s Michelle Rook, the recent ICE raids are already creating absenteeism and labor shortages that could severally disrupt the U.S. food supply. Ag groups are again calling for immigration reform with hopes the issue will finally come to a head.

Ripple Effect of Immigration Crackdown

Joe Del Bosque, owner of Del Bosque Farms in Firebaugh, Calif., is experiencing the rollercoaster with labor, saying the shifting policy strikes fear in farmers and workers.

“There’s so much uncertainty as to what the administration’s going to do,” Del Bosque told Rook on AgriTalk this week.

Del Bosque says the raids on California produce farms are disrupting the harvest of perishable produce.

“They haven’t been really huge sweeps. They’re usually picking up a few people. But it creates a lot of fear, and people don’t show up to work. That’s just as bad as if they were taken away,” he says.

According to an exclusive report by Farm Journal’s The Packer , the ripple effect of Trump’s immigration crackdown on agriculture could be far-reaching — if the administration revives its focus on ag.

Kevin Kelly is the CEO of Emerald Packaging — the largest flexible packaging supplier to the leafy greens industry. Based in Union City, Calif., the company has been in the packaging business for 62 years. Kelly says the immigrant workforce in California is feeling uncertain and afraid.

“We’ve certainly heard folks aren’t turning up to work in the fields, and we’ve seen it in our facility. We verify everybody, so we know everybody in our facility is documented and can legally work in the United States,” Kelly tells Jennifer Strailey, editor of The Packer. “In our case, it’s brothers and sisters being deported, and other family members being afraid. Our employees are staying home to help their family members move, to take care of them or to take them to see an attorney — that kind of thing.”

Dairy operations in several states have also been raided recently. Dairy producers say they rely on immigrant labor to provide a stable year-round work force and to keep the U.S. food supply stable.

“We need these people to take care of our animals so we can produce food. Without animal care, we won’t have milk, cheese, butter — nothing,” Greg Moes, MoDak Dairy in Goodwin, S.D., told Rook.

The recent ICE arrests at Glenn Valley Foods of Omaha, Neb. have also led to absenteeism at meat processing plants.

“At the beginning of the Trump administration, we had this same worry with the crackdown — whether this was going to impact absenteeism and things like that,” says Brad Kooima, Kooima Kooima Varilek in Sioux Center, Iowa. “So, hopefully we can put that in our rearview mirror.”

By the Numbers: A Heavy Reliance on Immigrant Labor
The news this week of the Trump administration putting a pause on raids of farms and meat processors is welcome news for those in agriculture. From dairies and produce farms, to meatpacking plants across the U.S., these sectors rely heavily on immigrant labor.

Immigrant labor makes up a substantial portion of the meat processing workforce, with estimates ranging from 37% to over 50%. However, states like South Dakota and Nebraska have even higher concentrations of immigrant workers in meat processing — reaching 58% and 66%, according to the nonprofit Migration Policy Institute.

And a large portion of U.S. dairy farms rely on immigrant labor, with estimates indicating that over half of all dairy workers are immigrants. Specifically, these workers account for 51% of the total dairy workforce and are responsible for producing 79% of the U.S. milk supply.

Farmworker Justice estimates 70% of the produce industry’s farmworkers are immigrants. USDA’s estimates are lower — closer to 60%.

Nebraska firm wins federal contract

Thu, 18 Jul 2024 22:24:57 GMT

Omaha, Neb.-based Greenberg Fruit Co . has been awarded a maximum $49.1 million contract with Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support to supply fresh fruits and vegetables to Nebraska schools and reservations.

The contract was a competitive acquisition with two responses received, according to a news release . The four-year contract has no option periods, with an ordering period end date is July 15, 2028.

Nebraska Grocery Chain Joining Dairy in Compost Venture

Fri, 20 Nov 2020 02:52:10 GMT

Officials for a Lincoln, Neb.-based grocery chain are hoping to turn tons of produce, bakery goods, meat scraps, floral arrangements and cardboard into a salable compost product after it’s mixed with manure from a dairy.

B & R Stores wants to begin selling bags of its Prairie Gold this spring, the Lincoln Journal Star reports .

“It completes the cycle,” said Larry Elias, B & R’s director of sales and merchandise, referring to transforming organic waste into a usable product for farmers, gardeners and greenhouses. Compost is made from decayed organic material, looks like soil and is used as fertilizer.

The company did a trial run last year with Prairieland Dairy near Firth and one Russ’s Market store and learned that 80 percent of what was going to the local landfill was compostable. This year waste from six of B & R’s Russ’s Market stores will be added to manure from Prairieland. The mix will sit in windrows for eight weeks and then will be piled up to cure for a year.

The cured product will be combined with organic waste from various sources before being bagged into Prairie Gold.

Experts say composting helps extend the life of landfills and reduces the amount of a greenhouse gas, methane, released into the atmosphere.

“Landfill space is limited, and it’s the right thing to do,” Elias said. “It’ll hopefully, over the long term, reduce our landfill costs.”

It’s too early, however, to tell how much money B & R will save by working with the dairy, he said.

Report Shows Ranchers and Farmers Paid Less and Hired Fewer

Fri, 23 Sep 2022 21:29:12 GMT

Farmers and ranchers in the Northern Plains hired fewer workers this year than in 2015, and paid them less this October during the key harvest period than they did a year earlier.

That’s the news from a farm labor report issued on Thursday by the U.S. Department of Agriculture ag statistics office in Lincoln, Nebraska.

The report said farmers and ranchers in South Dakota, North Dakota, Nebraska and Kansas hired 34,000 workers this summer, down 8 percent from the same week in 2015.

They kept the same number of workers the week of Oct. 9-15, this year; but that was 15 percent below the 40,000 they hired the same week in 2015.

Comparing July 2016 to July 2015, farmer labor earned more this year and livestock workers earned less, and worked fewer hours.

But the October wages fell this year from last year’s figures, the Capital Journal reported .

It follows lower cattle and crop prices this year over 2015, for the most part.

USDA officials have said they expect net farm income to fall again this year for the second year in a row.

Cattle producers in the state said prices for the feeder calves coming off pastures this fall are about 50 percent of the record levels seen two years ago at sale barns.

USDA reported that farm operators in the Northern Plains Region paid their hired workers an average wage of $14.49 per hour during the July 2016 reference week, up 4 percent from the July 2015 reference week.

Field workers received an average of $15.17 per hour, up $1.51. Livestock workers earned $12.83 per hour, down 48 cents.

The field and livestock worker combined wage rate at $14.10, was up 60 cents from the 2015 reference week. Hired laborers worked an average of 44.0 hours during the July 2016 reference week, compared with 39.6 hours worked during the July 2015 reference week.

Farm operators paid their hired workers an average wage of $14.56 per hour during the October 2016 reference week, down 1 percent from the October 2015 reference week.

Field workers received an average of $15.33 per hour, up 74 cents. Livestock workers earned $12.50 per hour, compared with $13.86 a year earlier.

The field and livestock worker combined wage rate, at 14.15, was down 15 cents from the October 2015 reference week.

Hired laborers worked an average of 44.8 hours during the October 2016 reference week, compared with 41.0 hours worked during the October 2015 reference week.

Nebraska Corn Board Urges Drivers to Take Extra Caution During Harvest

Fri, 23 Sep 2022 20:01:18 GMT

Nebraska drivers and farmers are being reminded to be careful during harvest because large equipment and trucks will be entering and leaving fields.

Tim Scheer is chairman of the Nebraska Corn Board. He says farmers will be working long hours to harvest their crops, and that can contribute to errors.

But other drivers also need to be careful, especially in rural areas where traffic will be heavier than usual. And drivers should watch out for slow-moving agricultural equipment.

Tall crops in the fields may also make it hard to see traffic at some intersections.

Top retailers in the Southwest by market share

Tue, 15 Nov 2022 07:42:31 GMT

Each year, The Shelby Report showcases valuable retail market share data. In the interactive map below, find each major market around the Southwest. Also, highlighted are the major cities in each market.

All markets are “labeled” or identified by their primary state (with metros or key cities). Percentages are estimates based on annualized sales, industry data, institutional research and store footprints. Shares are updated as market metrics dictate and retailers supply their store lists.*

Market shares are for chains, independents and/or the wholesalers (voluntary or cooperative) which supply them within each region’s distribution area, extending well beyond typical metros or CBSAs. Each market is defined by the sphere of distribution, not by a rigid geographic boundary.

Major cities in each market:

Colorado/Wyoming/Nebraska/South Dakota - Denver, Boulder, Colorado Springs,
Ft Collins, Pueblo, Grand Junctiion, Cheyenne
West Texas/New Mexico/Colorado/Kansas - Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Las Cruces, El Paso, Amarillo,
Lubbock, Wichita Falls, Abilene, Odessa
South Texas - San Antonio, Austin, Waco, Laredo,
Corpus Christi, McAllen, Brownsville
North Texas/Louisana/Arkansas/Oklahoma - Dallas, Fort Worth, Tyler, Longview, Shreveport
East Texas/Louisiana - Houston, Pasadena, Galveston, Bryan,
Beaumont, Port Arthur, Lake Charles
Oklahoma - Oklahoma City, Tulsa
Springfield, MO - Springfield, MO; Fayetteville, Bentonville, AR