The Mohave people have been practicing floodplain and irrigated agriculture for over 4,000 years along the Colorado River. Early irrigation practices followed the River’s natural flood cycle patterns, planting as the spring floodwaters receded. Later developments included hand-dug ditches and canals to divert water onto cultivated upland fields. The Tribes grew (and still grow) food and utility crops such as corn, mesquite, squash, and beans, as well as native trees for cultural uses.
Beginning in the 1870s, development of what has become the Colorado River Irrigation Project (CRIP) began. The CRIP currently serves 79,350 acres in Arizona. Recent agriculture trends have resulted in increased production of commercial crops such as alfalfa, cotton, soy, wheat and other vegetable commodities. Tribal members work their own assigned lands, or may lease their land. CRIT leases land to private and commercial farming enterprises. The Tribes also operates a large commercial farming enterprise known as CRIT Farms, managing 12,000 to 15,000 acres on average, with revenues benefiting the community at large. As described in more detail below, the majority of CRIT water is now used in the irrigation of approximately 80,000 acres of Reservation farmland in Arizona and California. CRIT rotates several thousand acres into and out of production each year as good land stewardship dictates, and is actively developing new farmland on reservation lands in both Arizona and California.