Facing a drought, California’s farmers make hard choices [Bay Area News Group]
… With no guarantee of irrigation water this summer, Del Bosque and other California farmers are making tough choices, sacrificing one crop to save another. The strategy is part of a larger and longer agricultural shift here in the heart of California’s $50 billion agriculture industry: Low-value, high-water crops are disappearing from the Golden State. … “We’re looking at an absolutely catastrophic year,” said Ryan Jacobsen of the Fresno County Farm Bureau. “But farmers have options. So they’re figuring out what their water portfolio looks like. Then they’re looking at potential (financial) returns.”
https://www.mercurynews.com/2021/05/23/facing-a-drought-californias-farmers-make-hard-choices/
Farm Bureau: Off stream ponds help in drought conditions [Willits News]
The Mendocino County Farm Bureau encourages local, state and federal leadership to focus current drought relief measures on multi-purpose projects that address agricultural, municipal, environmental, recreational and fire suppression water needs. “This isn’t a silo conversation; we want to look at this from a multi-benefit point of view,” says Mendocino County Farm Bureau Executive Director Devon Jones. … “The development of off-stream ponds for saving ag water is probably the best investment we can look into,” Jones says.
https://www.willitsnews.com/2021/05/24/farm-bureau-off-stream-ponds-help-in-drought-conditions/
Despite California drought, Monterey County growers have enough water to get through season [Salinas Californian]
Despite the statewide drought, agricultural experts say growers in the Salinas Valley and Monterey County won’t need to make big changes this year, thanks to sufficient supply from the aquifers and reservoirs. … Monterey County Farm Bureau Executive Director Norm Groot noted, though, that reservoir resources would likely be curtailed earlier than usual –– around the end of July and August, about halfway through the season. Still, he said, “so far it looks like we’re going to be able to release water for recharge.”
Opinion: Follow the warning signs: California is facing a devastating drought. It’s time to take action [Los Angeles Times]
… The inescapable truth is that during this summer and in the future California will no longer be able to rely so heavily on Sierra snowmelt to irrigate agriculture, bring life to arid urban landscapes and provide homes with water. Neither can San Joaquin Valley farmers keep overpumping groundwater. … Newsom and state Senate leader Toni Atkins (D-San Diego) are scrambling for ways to ease the drought pain. … They’ll presumably negotiate a compromise before the legislative deadline for budget passage on June 15. Whatever they agree on, drought-fighting is an excellent use of tax money.
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-05-24/skelton-water-drought-newsom-budget-california
Ag’s latest headache: a shortage of pallets for shipping produce [Bakersfield Californian]
Water, farm labor, shipping containers, truck drivers — it’s as though everything that’s not actual food is coming up short for local agricultural producers these days. And now this: They’re running low on pallets, too. An inadequate supply of wooden pallets, the squat structures used to make shipments easier to move with a forklift, has hit the industry just ahead of the grape harvest, raising concerns that farmers’ profits could be lost to packaging expenses — or worse, lead to a produce shortage.
Editorial: New challenges for strawberry workers, growers in Pajaro Valley [Santa Cruz Sentinel]
… Many consumers – and Santa Cruz County residents living north of the Watsonville area – may not realize both the size and impact of the local strawberry industry, and the challenges faced by workers and growers. These include vaccinating a migrant workforce, and providing housing in an area where permanent shelter is mostly unaffordable and hard to find. … As this season ramps up, the strawberry industry and the county Farm Bureau say a vaccination program, begun with praiseworthy help from Santa Cruz’s Dominican Hospital, has continued to inoculate workers.
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