ABSTRACTGround‐water irrigation has developed rapidly in the High Plains region of the United States, especially in Texas since the 1930's and more recently in western Kansas. Although most land sales transactions do not show the water value separate from the dry land value, the availability of ground water has greatly affected land values. This study measures this effect by two methods for an area of southwestern Kansas where ground‐water irrigation has become important.The purchasers of all farm land sold in the selected area between 1962‐67 were surveyed to obtain information on sale price and numerous factors which it was thought might have a bearing on the land value. One method of measuring the effect of ground water on land value involved matching a number of tracts not known to have available ground water for irrigation with an equal number having ground water. Since other factors were matched as closely as possible, the differences in land value were attributed to water. The second method was multiple regression in which total tract land value and land value per acre for some 160 tracts were related to several factors–soil and topographic conditions, tract size, availability of ground water for irrigation, nearness to elevator, mineral rights, and wheat allotment. Both methods produced approximately the same results–for the period studied the availability of ground water for irrigation contributed $95 to $100 per acre to the value of
展开▼
