The 2013 floods in Weld County caused significant damage to Sylvester’s property. If it weren’t for the oil and gas wells on his land — and the monthly checks he receives from the leases — Sylvester said his family never would have been able to make the necessary repairs to keep their house livable. Farmers and ranchers often use oil and gas royalties as fallback money when things go wrong, like during natural disasters or when commodity prices fall. But when the royalties are low and commodity prices are low, like now, when they’re both at their lowest in 10 years, that can cause significant struggles.
Farmers aren’t new to volatile markets. Commodity prices are always sliding up and down, and Colorado Farm Bureau President Don Shawcroft said farmers were expecting the oil and gas bubble to burst, though how quickly and severely it did came as a surprise. Even now, almost three years after the floods, Sylvester is still working to undo the damage done by one week of weather. The difference is the checks coming from the oil and gas companies are smaller these days.