Drought threatens access to clean water in California farming communities, study finds [Sacramento Bee]
Researchers have suspected for years that drought conditions worsen groundwater quality, but a study published this week provides strong evidence proving the long-held assumption. While previous studies have focused on the risk of wells being overdrawn and run dry during drought, the study from the United States Geological Survey and the California State Water Resources Control Board is the first to directly link drought to deteriorating water quality on a regional scale. The study looked at 30 years of data from California’s Central Valley. Based on their analysis, researchers found higher levels of nitrate at public drinking water wells in the Central Valley in areas where groundwater levels dropped rapidly during drought. Aquifers are pumped more frequently during times of water scarcity from drought. As a result, shallow groundwater — often contaminated by agricultural runoff in areas such as the Central Valley — is pushed down into the deepest parts of aquifers, the areas commonly tapped for public drinking-water supply.
https://www.sacbee.com/news/california/water-and-drought/article253961508.html
Californians will pay more for pork under Prop. 12 [Inland Valley Press]
California’s Proposition 12 will soon require farms to add space for certain farm animals, including breeding pigs, or mother sows. As the January 2022 date for full implementation of Prop. 12 approaches, some pundits warn of upcoming bacon shortages and up to 60 percent higher pork prices, while others downplay any negative effects on Californians. UC Davis economists estimate that California pork consumers will lose $320 million per year (roughly $8 per person) from the market impacts of Prop. 12. California consumers will pay about 8 percent more for pork regulated under Prop. 12 and will consume around 6 percent less of that pork per year. Co-author Richard Sexton, UC Davis distinguished professor of agricultural and resource economics, noted, “The roughly 9 percent of North American sows affected will each get about 20 percent more housing space. But, the additional space will be for those sows that already have more space, not those confined in small individual stalls.” California’s Prop. 12 is now set to be implemented as planned following the 9th Circuit Court’s recent rejection of legal challenges.
Caldor fire smoke and ash are clouding Lake Tahoe’s famously clear water [Los Angeles Times]
The Caldor fire has triggered mass evacuations in two states, torched hundreds of homes, made the air hazardous to breathe and spurred President Biden to issue an emergency declaration. But the erratic wildfire is also causing another problem for Lake Tahoe: Smoke and ash particles are entering the lake and clouding its world-famous crystal blue waters. Readings in recent days show the lake’s clarity — which is tracked by lowering a white disk below the surface and measuring the depth at which it disappears from view — has dropped to below normal for this time of year. “We would expect to see something like 65 feet and we’re seeing something more between 50 and 55 feet,” said Geoff Schladow, director of the UC Davis Tahoe Environmental Research Center.
Caldor Fire slows amid improving conditions, but risk remains [San Francisco Chronicle]
The good news started at sunrise and continued throughout the day — calmer winds and rising humidity, the first evacuees returning home, Kirkwood saved, and still no homes or structures lost in the Tahoe Basin. Bolstered by calmer winds and rising humidity, firefighters finally saw the pace of the Caldor Fire slow Thursday, limiting its growth as they ushered the flames around cabins, homes and resorts. The blaze grew by just over 2,000 acres overnight, a dramatic decline from the increase of 10,000 or more acres in previous days, and reaching 210,893 acres. It was 27% contained by evening. Just before midday Thursday, at the southwest end of the fire, evacuations were lifted in several communities, allowing residents to return to areas first hit by the fire in mid-August, including Omo Ranch and around Mount Aukum in El Dorado County.
Change May Be Coming to Your Favorite Wines [New York Times]
Wildfires have torn through vineyards in Napa Valley in California and elsewhere in Oregon, and even vineyards that were spared have had to contend with smoke damaging their grapes. Like other wineries, Jackson Family Wines, one of the largest wine producers in the United States, has already begun to take steps to deal with climate change. “If we plant a vineyard today, we’re asking, what will the vineyard look like in 2042, not 2022,” said Rick Tigner, the company’s chief executive. “We might have a bigger canopy to provide the grapes shade, or different varietals. All of those things cost money. While wildfires are a significant concern for wineries, so is water usage. Hamel Family Wines, in the Sonoma Valley, turned to dry farming as a way to eliminate the need for extensive irrigation. John Hamel, winemaker and managing director of wine growing, said the process involves cutting slits in the dry earth, allowing rain that does fall to be absorbed and held in the ground longer. It also makes the vines more resilient to temperature swings, he said. For Hamel’s 124 acres, dry farming saves 2 million to 4 million gallons of water annually. But there’s a trade-off: The yield is lower, with only 2.5 tons of grapes per acre as opposed to five to six tons per acre with irrigation.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/03/your-money/wine-climate-change.html?searchResultPosition=2
INSV confirmed in desert lettuce [Western Farm Press]
A bothersome plant virus first discovered in 2006 in the Salinas Valley of California was discovered last season near Tacna, Ariz., a farming community east of Yuma, and in five different fields in California’s Imperial Valley. The disease is like others in lettuce that cause decay and render the crop unmarketable, except that it is not caused by a soil-borne pathogen but vectored by a common insect. Impatiens necrotic spot virus, or INSV for short, can resemble burn damage caused by chemical applications, according to Steven Koike, a plant pathologist and director of TriCal Diagnostics in Hollister, Calif. Koike was a farm advisor with the University of California when the disease was first discovered in California.
https://www.farmprogress.com/crop-disease/insv-confirmed-desert-lettuce
Ag Today is distributed by the California Farm Bureau Marketing/Communications Division to county Farm Bureaus, California Farm Bureau directors and staff, for information purposes only; stories may not be republished without permission. Some story links may require site registration. Opinions expressed in stories, commentaries or editorials included in Ag Today do not necessarily represent the views of the California
