California Drought: After years of overpumping groundwater, state may be ready for reforms [San Jose Mercury News]
…Over
the past six months, farmers, environmentalists and urban water districts have
been holding workshops, hearings and private meetings in Sacramento to discuss
how to preserve the state's depleted groundwater. In years past, the Farm
Bureau and other powerful agricultural groups fought nearly every attempt at
statewide rules.…Now, for the first time, some farm groups are open to
discussing measures to require landowners to report the amount of groundwater
they pump, probably to local agencies. The rules could require installing
meters on some wells and even limiting how much water is taken out of the
ground. Depending on what bills emerge in the Legislature this summer, counties
and local water districts also may be given the authority to collect fees, or
"pump taxes," from farmers and other well owners to pay for programs
to restore groundwater basins.
2014 could be new
normal for the Valley [Hanford Sentinel]
Would
redirecting more water from rivers and streams toward Valley agriculture
prevent the permanent loss of hundreds of thousands of irrigated acres?
Probably not, according to Cal Poly irrigation expert Charles Burt — and he’s
asking you not to shoot the messenger….Now natural drought has hit,
exacerbating the problem. The result? Groundwater exhaustion is coming, one way
or the other, and an area the size of Rhode Island is likely to permanently
drop from agricultural production in the Central Valley.…According to his
analysis, even if environmental restrictions on pumping were ended, groundwater
overdraft would simply drop to the unsustainable levels it was at before the
drought.
Who should get water
deliveries divides California lawmakers [Sacramento Bee]
Seasonal
storms have exposed once more some perennial political divisions over
California water. Citing the latest rainfall, seven of the state’s lawmakers
are urging the Obama administration to free up more irrigation deliveries for
San Joaquin Valley farms. The muscular Capitol Hill lineup is noticeable both
for who’s on it and who’s not. In a telling alliance, Democratic Sen. Dianne
Feinstein joined with House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy of Bakersfield and
four other House Republicans, as well as one House Democrat, in calling for
increased deliveries.
Commentary: Water and farms: Drought as seen through eyes of a
farmer [San Jose Mercury News]
There
has been a lot of finger pointing as California endures a drought, and most of
it seems to be directed toward agriculture. Well, here's how I see it: Plants
need water to grow….When farmers "use" water, they are growing
healthy, affordable local food….It doesn't make sense to criticize farmers for
using water to grow food any more than it makes sense to criticize homebuilders
for using wood to build our houses. The consumer drives demand for inputs as
much as for end products.
California farmers
short of labor, and patience [New York Times]
When
Chuck Herrin, who runs a large farm labor contracting company, looks out at the
hundreds of workers he hires each year to tend to the countless rows of
asparagus, grapes, tomatoes, peaches and plums, he often seethes in
frustration. It is not that he has any trouble with the laborers. It is that
he, like many others in agriculture here, is increasingly fed up with
immigration laws that he says prevent him from fielding a steady, reliable work
force….That reality is shaping the views of agriculture business owners here,
like Mr. Herrin, who cannot recall ever voting for a Democrat. In dozens of
interviews, farmers and owners of related businesses said that even the current
system of tacitly using illegal labor was failing to sustain them. A work force
that arrived in the 1990s is aging out of heavy labor, Americans do not want
the jobs, and tightened security at the border is discouraging new immigrants
from arriving, they say, leaving them to struggle amid the paralysis on
immigration policy. No other region may be as eager to keep immigration
legislation alive.
American farmers
confront 'big data' revolution [Associated Press]
Farmers
from across the nation gathered in Washington this month for what has become an
annual trek to seek action on the most important matters in American
agriculture, such as immigration reform and water regulations. But this time, a
new, more shadowy issue also emerged: growing unease about how the largest seed
companies are gathering vast amount of data from sensors on tractors, combines
and other farm equipment.…The involvement of the American Farm Bureau, the
nation's largest and most prominent farming organization, illustrates how
agriculture is cautiously entering a new era in which raw planting data holds
both the promise of higher yields and the peril that the information could be
hacked or exploited by corporations or government agencies.
Ag
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