BOISE - In less than two weeks, enough land to cover 25,000 football fields could be dried up in Magic Valley in the largest water-right curtailment order in state history.

Magic Valley's agriculture community is reeling days after an announcement by the state water director that 33,000 acres of farmland could dry up this summer.

Water Director Dave Tuthill said Monday he'll shut down groundwater pumpers on May 14 if they're not able to fulfill water calls from Blue Lakes Trout Farm and Clear Springs Foods' Snake River Farm.

The curtailment order could be the largest in Idaho history, affecting more than 600 groundwater pumpers - and farmers, economists and those in the government say the ripple effects could be devastating.

"The curtailment of groundwater pumping will grossly and adversely affect agriculture," said Don Snyder, a professor of economics at Utah State University, who co-authored a 2005 report that studied the potential effects of curtailment in Magic Valley.

The Idaho Legislature ordered Snyder's report, and it was funded by the Idaho attorney general's office.

Snyder found that curtailing rights junior to 1949 could cost Idahoans $204.3 million. Curtailing rights junior to 1961 could cost $130 million.

Tuthill's curtailment pertains to rights after 1983 in the Blue Lakes call and 1975 in the Clear Springs call - still a significant fallout, according to Snyder.

Potato and sugar beet farmers will bear the brunt, says Garth Taylor, a professor of economics at the University of Idaho. Many of the groundwater pumpers in the curtailment order grow these high-value crops - that are already planted by mid-May - and it's too late to replant outside curtailment areas.

Major food producers, such as Amalgamated Sugar Company, which buys millions of dollars' worth of Magic Valley sugar beets each year, are especially worried.

"We are certainly concerned about the loss of 33,000 acres of farmland," said Vic Jarow, a spokesman for Amalgamated. "How much impact this will have on us, at this point I can't tell."

It all depends on where farmers planted this spring.

Jarow said he hopes farmers realized curtailment was a possibility this year and planted their high-cash crops on lands with more senior water rights. He said the company is calling its growers this week to find out.

But Amalgamated is more concerned about the long-term effects of fallowing 33,000 acres: Fewer acres mean fewer opportunities for growers to plant what they want, where they want.

Fewer acres in production, however, could be exactly what groundwater pumpers need, say Tuthill and Lynn Tominaga, executive director of Idaho Ground Water Appropriators.

They're talking about the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program, which pays farmers about $130 per acre to fallow their land for 15 years. Farmers enrolled in the program are exempt from curtailment orders.

"The curtailment warning letters give growers a chance to sign up for CREP," Tuthill said Tuesday. "It's a primary reason for the warning-letter approach."

If the farmers subject to curtailment sign up for CREP before May 14, they'll escape shutdown and free up water for the senior users making the water call, said Tim Luke, water distribution section manager for IDWR.

Groundwater pumpers are short a combined 27.09 cubic feet per second of the 53 cfs required in the mitigation agreement with Blue Lakes Trout Farms and Clear Springs. If enough farmers sign up for CREP, that shortfall could be erased.

Problem is that CREP enrollment has been sluggish, even after Tuthill's announcement. Farmers have had since May 30 to sign up for the program. As of April 17, the most recent date for which statistics are available, just 17,994 acres are in the program with 25,901 waiting to be approved, according to the Farm Service Agency that administers the program.

CREP is designed to handle 100,000 acres.

As of Wednesday, two days after Tuthill sent the warning letters, FSA phones aren't exactly ringing off the hook, said Becky Rios, a spokeswoman for the agency. "I've talked to our (regional) offices, and I don't think many people have received their (curtailment) letters," she said.

That's prompted FSA to send out their own letters to farmers encouraging them to sign up - soon.

Meanwhile, groundwater pumpers are scrambling to come up with more water to satisfy the call. But Tominaga said he doesn't think there's water to find.

"We're just not going to be able to get there, I think," he said. "Physically, it's not possible."

Senior water users say they have yet to hear any last-minute offers from the groundwater users.

"They've not contacted us. It's kind of in their court to come up with something," said Randy MacMillan, vice president of research at Clear Springs. "It's sad it's come to this, but the state hasn't adequately appropriated the aquifer for the past 20 years. It's sad."

If groundwater pumpers can't come up with more water - and if CREP signups don't escalate within the next two weeks - Tuthill will have no choice but to shut down the pumps to avoid a lawsuit.

But even if groundwater is curtailed, senior users won't necessarily see their water this season. Groundwater can take decades to move through the aquifer.

The consequences from the curtailment, however, will begin immediately.

Times-News staff writer Matt Christensen covers the environment. He welcomes comments at 735-3243 and at matt.christensen@lee.net.

Groundwater users: People who use water that is pumped from the aquifer. Spring users: People who use water from springs that naturally bring water from the aquifer to the surface. Spring users are considered surface water users and generally hold senior water rights. In Magic Valley, spring users are typically in the aquaculture industry near Thousand Springs. Water call: When a water user does not receive the full share of his water right, he may call on the state water director to intervene and deliver his water. Mitigation: Negotiations between senior and junior users to prevent curtailment. Often, junior users will offer to supply most but not all of an unfulfilled senior right to prevent curtailment. Curtailment: When a junior user cannot compensate a senior user for an unfulfilled senior right, the state water director must legally cutoff junior supplies. Eastern Snake Plain Aquifer: Underground, sponge-like water network that is the lifeblood for water users between Ashton and King Hill. Pumpers draw their water from the aquifer. Excess surface water and runoff returns to the aquifer, which is called recharge. Surface and groundwater are interconnected by the aquifer.