Farming Land in Bent County, Colorado: Water Risk

Bent County's Arkansas River farmland is real, working agricultural ground -- but its water is also a genuinely contested asset. A documented decades-long decline in irrigated acreage, a large-scale local farmland-and-water consolidation backed by outside capital, and a fresh 2026 state law aimed at buy-and-dry transfers all point to the same thing: verify a specific parcel's water right and its owner's plans for it before treating irrigated ground here as a stable, long-term asset.

This page covers what's specific to Bent County. For the general explanation, see the national guide.

A documented, decades-long loss of irrigated acreage

Bent County has lost roughly 37.6% of its irrigated farmland since 1997, according to figures tracked by the Lower Arkansas Valley Water Conservancy District -- one of the steepest declines of any county along the river (neighboring Otero County has lost a comparable 35.2%). That decline reflects decades of municipal and industrial water transfers pulling water rights off farm ground and toward cities elsewhere in Colorado, the exact "buy-and-dry" dynamic that Bent County's own 1041 regulations (covered on the hub) were adopted specifically to slow down for the county's remaining historically irrigated land.

For a buyer, this is the concrete reason to treat a seller's stated irrigation history and water-right documentation as something to verify independently rather than take at face value: a parcel's productive, irrigated present doesn't guarantee its water right stays attached and undiminished going forward, given the county's actual track record.

A large, real consolidation of local farmland and water: AV Farms and Select Water Solutions

The clearest current example of outside capital moving into Bent County's farmland and water is AV Farms, LP, formed through the consolidation of ten companies tied to Karl Nyquist and Englewood-based C&A Companies, which local reporting describes as one of the largest economic drivers in the Arkansas Valley and in Bent County specifically. AV Farms' holdings include land and water assets under both the Fort Lyon Canal and Lamar Canal companies, plus 5,324 shares in the Lower Arkansas Water Management Association (LAWMA) -- a real, substantial local water-share position, not a speculative claim. In 2024, Select Water Solutions, Inc., a roughly $1.5 billion, Texas-based, NYSE-listed company, purchased a 35% stake in AV Farms for $62 million, a scale of outside investment in local farmland and water shares that the Lower Arkansas Valley Water Conservancy District has publicly flagged and urged opposition to, characterizing it as water speculation.

If you're evaluating farmland under the Fort Lyon Canal, Lamar Canal, or with LAWMA shares attached, ask directly whether the specific canal or ditch company shares involved have any connection to AV Farms or similar consolidated holdings, and whether the water conservancy district or canal company has any pending position on a transfer affecting the parcel -- this is a live, named, dollar-figure situation in the county's water market right now, not background historical risk.

A 2026 state law responds directly to this pattern -- but check its actual scope

Colorado lawmakers have moved on this pattern directly: 2026 legislation aimed at "buy-and-dry" water transfers in the Arkansas Valley focuses on requiring revegetation of farmland once its water right is transferred away, responding to the same consolidation and dry-up dynamic playing out in counties including Bent. Separately, some recent large farm-water purchase agreements in the region have begun including negotiated limits -- such as a cap on how many consecutive years a city can take farm water under an agreement -- specifically to soften the local economic impact of these transfers, though those terms are deal-specific rather than a blanket rule.

None of this changes the underlying fact that a water right can still be sold and transferred off farmland here. For a specific parcel, ask whether its water right has ever been part of a transfer negotiation, whether any revegetation obligation already attaches to it under the new state framework, and whether the canal company or LAWMA has records showing the water right's current, undiminished status -- rather than relying on the land's current cropped appearance as proof of a secure water supply.

Farming and Irrigated Land in Bent County, Colorado

A documented, decades-long loss of irrigated acreage

A large, real consolidation of local farmland and water: AV Farms and Select Water Solutions

A 2026 state law responds directly to this pattern -- but check its actual scope

Ready to talk to someone who knows land?