As the single largest water-consuming industry, agriculture has
become a focal point for efforts to promote water conservation.
The drive for water use efficiency has become institutionalized
in agriculture through numerous federal, state and local
programs. Since the 1980s, some water districts serving
agricultural areas have developed extensive water conservation
programs to help their customers (From Aquapedia).
Ask any of the wine grape growers planting own-rooted stock why
they’re farming these massively risky grapevines and they’ll
all tell you the same thing: They just want to make really
great wine. But there’s another benefit to the gamble,
too—unlike most American wine grapes, which are overwhelmingly
grown on grafted rootstock, own-rooted vines are especially
drought-tolerant, produce a more predictable crop and use
significantly fewer resources. There’s a huge downside to
using own-rooted vines, though. If they get attacked
by phylloxera, the entire crop will die. It won’t be a
loss of just one season’s grapes—the entire vineyard itself
will be totally destroyed. And the invasive species is present
in the soil in vineyards throughout America.
Regenerative agriculture is a holistic land management approach
with principles that date back to Indigenous
farmers. Instead of letting the land fallow or repeating a
cycle of planting water-intensive crops that cannot survive the
harsh conditions along the lower Gila River, Hansen has worked
to develop strategies to make less water go further. He has
successfully introduced arid-adapted crops, integrated
livestock on his land and used non-traditional farming methods
to improve soil health and biodiversity. While
regenerative agriculture has been a way to conserve water and
grow healthier crops for centuries, the alternate farming
method has seen a resurgence in popularity in recent years as a
way to potentially reverse the effects of climate change by
rebuilding soil organic matter and restoring degraded soil
biodiversity, resulting in both carbon drawdown and
improvements to the water cycle.
In Sarge Green’s 40-plus year career, he’s worn an astonishing
number of hats. Now a water management specialist with
California State University, Fresno, Sarge has worked on water
quality issues at the regional water board, served as general
manager of an irrigation district, and managed two resource
conservation districts (RCDs). He’s also a director for the
Tule Basin Land and Water Conservation Trust and the Fresno
Metropolitan Flood Control District. He’s been a long-time
partner with the PPIC Water Policy Center in our San Joaquin
Valley work as a trusted member of our research network. Sarge
remains deeply involved in efforts to help San Joaquin Valley
farms and communities cope with the challenges of implementing
the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act. We spoke with him
about a pressing issue in the valley: how to manage farmland
that will be transitioning out of intensive irrigation.
More state money is flowing to the valley to take land out of
production in an attempt to ease demand on groundwater. The
state Department of Water Resources (DWR) is starting a new
program called LandFlex which will pay up to $25 million in
incentives to farmers to fallow crops. On February 23,
DWR announced three grants from the program, all of which are
going to San Joaquin Valley groundwater agencies. Madera
County groundwater sustainability agency (GSA) will receive
$9.3 million, Greater Kaweah GSA will receive $7 million and
Eastern Tule GSA will receive $7 million.
The drought crisis on the Colorado River looms large in
California’s Imperial Valley, which produces much of the
nation’s lettuce, broccoli and other crops, and now faces water
cuts. But those cuts will also be bad news for the
environmental and ecological disaster unfolding just to the
north, at the shallow, shimmering and long-suffering Salton
Sea. “There’s going to be collateral damage everywhere,” said
Frank Ruiz, a program director with California Audubon. To
irrigate their fields, the valley’s farmers rely completely on
Colorado River water, which arrives by an 80-mile-long canal.
And the Salton Sea, the state’s largest lake, relies on water
draining from those fields to stay full. But it’s been
shrinking for decades, killing off fish species that attract
migratory birds and exposing lake bed that generates dust that
is harmful to human health.
It was exactly the sort of deluge
California groundwater agencies have been counting on to
replenish their overworked aquifers.
The start of 2023 brought a parade of torrential Pacific storms
to bone dry California. Snow piled up across the Sierra Nevada at
a near-record pace while runoff from the foothills gushed into
the Central Valley, swelling rivers over their banks and filling
seasonal creeks for the first time in half a decade.
Suddenly, water managers and farmers toiling in one of the
state’s most groundwater-depleted regions had an opportunity to
capture stormwater and bank it underground. Enterprising agencies
diverted water from rushing rivers and creeks into manmade
recharge basins or intentionally flooded orchards and farmland.
Others snagged temporary permits from the state to pull from
streams they ordinarily couldn’t touch.
Patrick O’Toole, whose family operates a sheep and cattle ranch
on the Wyoming-Colorado border, was interviewed last month in
Las Vegas, where he expressed the concerns that many farmers
and ranchers have regarding unchecked urban growth in cities
that rely on Colorado River water. … A recent Rasmussen
Reports poll confirms that over 1,000 residents polled in
Colorado also don’t want sprawl, and don’t think ag water
should be transported to support that sprawl. Notably, 76%
believe it is “very important” to protect U.S. farmland from
development, so the United States is able to produce enough
food to feed its own human population in the future.
… Still, some urban water agencies and their supporters
want to limit agricultural deliveries in the Colorado River
Basin. -Written by Dan Keppen, executive director of
Family Farm Alliance.
More than 20 years ago, Craig McNamara started planting woody
vegetation on his family’s farm, west of Sacramento,
California. McNamara was an early organic pioneer in the
region, and he prioritized weaving nature into the agricultural
landscape at a time when it was far from popular. Native shrubs
and trees lined a creek that ran through the walnut farm.
Plants became boundaries between orchards and row crops—i.e.,
hedgerows—and it didn’t take long for the 450-acre organic farm
to come “alive,” says Craig’s son, Sean McNamara, who joined
the operation in 2014. Bees, owls, ladybugs, and many other
creatures still routinely visit the farm. Just a few weeks ago,
a bobcat strolled through the bushes along the creek.
The San Joaquin Valley produces more than half of the state’s
agricultural output, and it is an important contributor to the
nation’s food supply. In terms of revenues, Fresno, Kern, and
Tulare Counties are the nation’s top three agricultural
counties. In 2018, about 4.5 million acres of cropland were
irrigated in the region, using 16.1 million acre-feet (maf) of
water. The valley is also home to significant dairy and beef
industries. Farming and related industries play an outsized
role in the San Joaquin Valley’s economy, accounting for 14
percent of GDP, 17 percent of employment, and 19 percent of
revenues. Valley agriculture employs around 340,000 people; its
crops produce more than $24 billion in revenues … Ensuring
the economic and environmental sustainability of San Joaquin
Valley agriculture is key for the region’s wellbeing, but this
sector faces a future with less water for irrigation—an
essential input.
Across a sprawling corner of southern Tulare County snug against the Sierra Nevada, a bounty of navel oranges, grapes, pistachios, hay and other crops sprout from the loam and clay of the San Joaquin Valley. Groundwater helps keep these orchards, vineyards and fields vibrant and supports a multibillion-dollar agricultural economy across the valley. But that bounty has come at a price. Overpumping of groundwater has depleted aquifers, dried up household wells and degraded ecosystems.
Innovative efforts to accelerate
restoration of headwater forests and to improve a river for the
benefit of both farmers and fish. Hard-earned lessons for water
agencies from a string of devastating California wildfires.
Efforts to drought-proof a chronically water-short region of
California. And a broad debate surrounding how best to address
persistent challenges facing the Colorado River.
These were among the issues Western Water explored in
2019, and are still worth taking a look at in case you missed
them.
Groundwater helped make Kern County
the king of California agricultural production, with a $7 billion
annual array of crops that help feed the nation. That success has
come at a price, however. Decades of unchecked groundwater
pumping in the county and elsewhere across the state have left
some aquifers severely depleted. Now, the county’s water managers
have less than a year left to devise a plan that manages and
protects groundwater for the long term, yet ensures that Kern
County’s economy can continue to thrive, even with less water.
As California embarks on its unprecedented mission to harness groundwater pumping, the Arizona desert may provide one guide that local managers can look to as they seek to arrest years of overdraft.
Groundwater is stressed by a demand that often outpaces natural and artificial recharge. In California, awareness of groundwater’s importance resulted in the landmark Sustainable Groundwater Management Act in 2014 that aims to have the most severely depleted basins in a state of balance in about 20 years.
The message is oft-repeated that
water must be conserved and used as wisely as possible.
The California Water Code calls water use efficiency “the
efficient management of water resources for beneficial uses,
preventing waste, or accomplishing additional benefits with the
same amount of water.”
This printed issue of Western Water examines
agricultural water use – its successes, the planned state
regulation to quantify its efficiency and the potential for
greater savings.
30-minute DVD that traces the history of the U.S. Bureau of
Reclamation and its role in the development of the West. Includes
extensive historic footage of farming and the construction of
dams and other water projects, and discusses historic and modern
day issues.
There are two constants regarding agricultural water use –
growers will continue to come up with ever more efficient and
innovative ways to use water and they will always be pressed to
do more.
It’s safe to say the matter will not be settled anytime soon,
given all the complexities that are a part of the water use
picture today. While officials and stakeholders grapple to find a
lasting solution to California’s water problems that balances
environmental and economic needs, those who grow food and fiber
for a living do so amid a host of challenges.
This beautiful 24×36 inch poster, suitable for framing, features
a map of the San Joaquin River. The map text focuses on the San
Joaquin River Restoration Program, which aims to restore flows
and populations of Chinook salmon to the river below Friant Dam
to its confluence with the Merced River. The text discusses the
history of the program, its goals and ongoing challenges with
implementation.
As the single largest water-consuming industry, agriculture has
become a focal point for efforts to promote water conservation.
In turn, discussions about agricultural water use often become
polarized.
With this in mind, the drive for water use
efficiency has become institutionalized in agriculture
through numerous federal, state and local programs.
