by Katy Grimes, E&E Legal Senior Media Fellow and California Globe Editor
As Appearing in the California Globe
California farms produce over half of the country’s fruits, nuts, and vegetables
The California Farm Water Coalition issued a dire statement Tuesday warning that California’s agriculture industry and food supply is in peril because of restricted agriculture water supplies. “Today’s State Water Board emergency water conservation regulation continues to demonstrate how serious this year’s drought is. Water conservation measures are reaching farther and farther into our communities and now go beyond the water supply cuts felt by California farms and rural communities earlier this year.”
The California Farm Water Coalition represents agriculture water suppliers, water districts, agribusiness, farmers, as well as the supporting agribusinesses such as farm equipment suppliers, tractor manufacturers, and the like.
It was only last summer that the State Water Resources Control Board eliminated water supplies for thousands of family farms throughout the Central Valley, a mere two years after the state’s reservoirs were full from a particularly wet year. “The California State Water Resources Control Board announced that thousands of farmers in the Central Valley up to the Oregon Border will have their water curtailed until winter, the Globe reported.
When the State Water Board orders water cut off to farmers, the food supply is also cut.
California’s drought conditions are actually historically normal however, each of California’s droughts are billed by government and media as the driest period in the state’s recorded rainfall history. Scientists who study the Western United States’ long-term climate patterns say California has been dry for significantly longer periods — more than 200 years.
