Drought, water cutbacks take financial toll on Central Valley farmers: ‘It’s getting worse’
This story is part of the Central Valley News Collaborative — a bilingual, community journalism project funded by the Central Valley Community Foundation and with technology and training support from Microsoft Corp. The collaboration includes The Fresno Bee, Valley Public Radio, Vida en el Valle, Radio Bilingüe and the Institute for Media & Public Trust at Fresno State.
California’s prolonged drought became dire last year as the state experienced the second-driest two-year period on record, costing the agricultural industry $1.1 billion in revenue loss and leading to the elimination of an estimated 8,745 jobs, according to a new report.
Researchers from the UC Merced Water Systems Management Lab attributed the revenue losses to drastically reduced water rations, which led farmers to increase the acreage of fallowed land, cut down on labor costs and increase their reliance on groundwater pumping, according to a February report prepared for the California Department of Food and Agriculture.
They expect those conditions — and the subsequent costs it’s imparting on farmworkers — will only grow worse in the year to come.
“We’re likely to see harder impacts from drought this year compared to last year because there’s a compounded effect,” said Josue Medellin-Azuara, an associate professor of civil and environmental engineering at UC Merced and co-author of the study.
The researchers used surveys, reviews of hydrological information and remote sensing data to track changes on farmland and identify the economic impacts of the drought on farmers. The study was funded by a $1.5 million research grant provided by the state government. It’s part of a larger, three-year study.
Drought leads Central Valley farmers to fallow land
The Central Valley, which produces more than a third of the country’s vegetables and two-thirds of its fruits and nuts, was among the areas of the state most affected by the drought. The report showed that water cutbacks forced farmers to fallow an additional 395,000 acres of land — an area larger than Los Angeles. Nearly all of that fallowed land, or about 385,000 acres, was located in the Valley.
The west side of the San Joaquin Valley, Tulare County and Kern County, as well as various regions in the Sacramento Valley, experienced some of the harshest conditions. The Russian River Basin and intermountain areas in Siskiyou, Shasta and Modoc counties were also severely affected.
Drought is not only defined by scant water supply. Hotter temperatures and arid, dry conditions increased the demand for water and “widened the gap between water supply and irrigation needs,” according to the report.
While growers left larger portions of their land unplanted, they also increasingly relied on depleting groundwater reserves to irrigate their crops, resulting in higher electricity and pumping costs. A lack of atmospheric rivers and a below-average snowpack drained most reservoirs and aquifers in the past year, the report showed.
“There will be changes in the cropping patterns,” Medellin-Azuara said. “Water for irrigation will only become more scarce this year if we continue with low precipitation conditions.”
Water shortage poses challenges for California agriculture
Joe Del Bosque is a farmer from Firebaugh, in western Fresno County. Del Bosque had been growing asparagus in the Valley for more than 20 years. But due to the limited amount of water, he had to make the difficult decision to stop planting the crop, resulting in the loss of at least 70 jobs. Despite the challenges, Del Bosque said he had never considered quitting the farm industry. But after weathering this past year’s drought, Del Bosque said it’s now crossed his mind.
“I’ve always been very steadfast about continuing and surviving, but it seems like it’s getting worse and worse,” he said. “I’m not quitting, but it’s getting extremely difficult.”
Del Bosque said the lack of available water is just one factor that is driving up costs. He said labor and agricultural equipment like tractors, fuel, packing and production materials are also growing more expensive. As a result, many farmers are being forced to increase the price of their crops, he said.
“We’re in this spiral of costs escalating that we can’t stop,” he said. “The only way we can stay in business is if we can get higher prices for our crops, and that’s going to convert to higher food prices for everyone.”
The Sustainable Groundwater Management Act, which was implemented in 2014 to regulate groundwater pumping, is reshaping how farmers adapt to the drought. The law created management agencies to develop sustainability plans and oversee the allocation of groundwater resources. Farmers have until 2040 to fully comply with the law.
But the state’s decreasing water availability and overdrafted groundwater aquifers “present serious challenges for meeting societal needs,” according to the report.
Ian LeMay, president of the California Fresh Fruit Association, said the state needs to employ better strategies to help farmers who are adapting to the law and struggling to access water.
“Getting our underground aquifers into a place of sustainability and compliance is something I think all of us identify as important,” he said. “But we would argue at the same time that you can’t take away or reduce access to water in our underground aquifers without identifying another means to access water in another way.”
Still, LeMay said he’s hopeful the industry will find ways to adapt. The state’s agricultural sector generated nearly $50 billion in annual revenue last year and employs more than 400,000 workers.
“California agriculture is significantly important and something that we should all want to preserve,” he said. “At the end of the day, it’s a business and we have to find ways to sustain it.”
This story was originally published March 6, 2022 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Drought, water cutbacks take financial toll on Central Valley farmers: ‘It’s getting worse’ ."