The grim news about the California water situation led me to contact Ian LeMay, president of the California Fresh Fruit Association, to see how it was affecting his organization’s members, all of whom are growers of permanent fruit crops.
The situation is “dire,” LeMay said, “and extremely disappointing.”
LeMay points out the present circumstances are “different” from previous drought cycles (such as 2009-11 and 2012-16), “where we were able to argue over where the water is allocated” (for example, agricultural allotments versus environmental uses, such as sending water through the San Joaquin Delta to preserve endangered species). The present situation “truly is due to a lack of precipitation.”
LeMay goes on to observe that “we had significant snowfall in December, which was great.” Even here, however, it is not clear how much of that snowfall will result in runoff. Last year, he says, state water models were wrong in predicting 800,000 more acre-feet in runoff than was actually realized. “The precipitation overlay burn areas” from wildfires, so the runoff “did not materialize.”
LeMay points to a report issued last week by the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) estimating that the economic impact of last year’s drought was a loss of $1.7 billion and nearly 15,000 full- and part-time jobs. Some 395,000 acres were fallowed (out of a state total of 10 million acres).
“The crops most significantly affected?by?increased fallowing include rice in the Sacramento Valley, cotton in the San Joaquin Valley, and grain and field crops statewide,” said the CDFA report.
As for fruit growers, “my members are already going through cultural practices necessary to grow this year’s crop,” says LeMay. He has not seen fruit growers pulling acreage out of production to any great degree at this point, but “we are in a situation that will be tough” and “will direct members to make very tough decisions.”
LeMay does not see that any particular fruit commodity has been affected more than others. “They all take relatively similar amounts of annual irrigation,” he says. “Many of my members have invested in efficient irrigation practices” to “utilize every molecule of water available to them.”
Regionally, it is a matter of which water district growers find themselves in and whether they have senior water rights (meaning that they have first dibs on water).
Even senior rights holders may find themselves in trouble. Much of California’s water supply is transferred from Lake Shasta, in the state’s extreme north, south through the California Aqueduct.
There is “currently not enough water in Shasta to fulfill senior water rights,” LeMay points out, adding that some 20 million Californians get some portion of their water through the system.
Yet one more factor makes this drought cycle different, LeMay says: it is the first time that the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA), passed in 2014, has been in effect, which limits the amount of groundwater growers can pump. Full implementation of the act will take place by 2040. LeMay points to one policy estimate saying that 1 million acres will be taken out of production if SGMA is implemented “without mitigation.”
Residents of the coastal metropolises—who constitute the vast majority of California’s population—often regard drought as someone else’s problem, but this “could be the year they realize where the state finds itself,” LeMay notes.
“Quite frankly,” he adds, “my members grow fresh fruit, an agricultural commodity that everyone in the world should consume, at a high quality, under some of the most rigorous regulations in the world. We need more advocates, more supporters in those urban areas.”
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March 04, 2022 at 01:36AM
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With ongoing drought, California fruit growers feel the vise tighten – Produce Blue Book - Produce Blue Book
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