Greetings and happy August! Harvest is well under way for most of us, and yields seem to be fairly impressive. It has been a long hot summer and hopefully the worst is behind us and we can start to breath the faint smell of rain (if we’re lucky) once again. The summer could have been much worse if the Madera Irrigation District (MID) had not stepped up and done such a great job of finding more water for all of us.
We cannot plan on being this lucky in the future so we must keep looking ahead and develop plans for more water storage. The Madera Ranch Water Bank Project will be a great asset for MID’s users, but as is the case with water statewide –we are going to need more.
Our Executive Committee has meet with Congressman Jim Costa and he has agreed to help push through an updated feasibility study for a water storage project at Temperance Flat. The politics involved in getting the Bureau of Reclamation to issue this study ought to be nominal –however our Farm Bureau feels it is a necessary step in order to bring the project –whatever its form, to reality. Our Executive Committee is also in the beginning stages of utilizing all our local strength to begin developing this water storage project post haste.
Here’s hoping for a successful and prosperous harvest throughout Madera County for the remainder of the year!
See Ya
Tom Coleman
