The Navajo Indian Irrigation Project (NIIP) () is a large agricultural development located in the northwest corner of

New Mexico New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...

. The NIIP is one of the largest Native American owned and operated agricultural businesses in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. This venture finds its origins in the 1930s when the federal government was looking for economic development for the

Navajo Nation The Navajo Nation (), also known as Navajoland, is an Indian reservation of Navajo people in the United States. It occupies portions of northeastern Arizona, northwestern New Mexico, and southeastern Utah. The seat of government is located in ...

. The NIIP was approved in 1962 by

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...

. The

Bureau of Reclamation The Bureau of Reclamation, formerly the United States Reclamation Service, is a List of United States federal agencies, federal agency under the U.S. Department of the Interior, which oversees water resource management, specifically as it ...

received the task of constructing this project. The water supply is provided by Navajo Lake, the reservoir formed behind Navajo Dam on the San Juan River. Water is transported southwest and distributed via of main canals and of laterals. The project service area is composed of the high benchlands south of Farmington, which experience an arid climate. Originally designed to provide jobs for Native American family farms the project has transformed into a large corporate entity. The project was authorized on June 13, 1962 for the irrigation of , and construction began in 1964. The canal systems and most of the drainage systems were completed by the end of 1977, and farmland was gradually brought into production in "blocks" averaging . As of 2011, seven blocks totaling of farmland were irrigated, with an eighth block under development. The project is entitled to of San Juan River water each year.

References

Irrigation projects Irrigation in the United States Geography of the Navajo Nation United States Bureau of Reclamation Colorado River Storage Project {{Navnat-stub