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 The most populous U.S. state is in its third year of what
officials are calling a catastrophic drought, leaving some small
communities at risk of running out of drinking water and leading
farmers to leave fallow nearly a half-million acres of land.
"We wanted to provide a foundation for state agricultural and water
policymakers to understand the impacts of the drought on farmers and
farm communities," said Richard Howitt, professor emeritus of
agricultural and resource economics at the University of California,
Davis and the report's lead author.
As many as 14,500 full time and seasonal jobs could be lost as a
result of the drought, as farmers fallow land and there are fewer
crops to plant and pick, according to the preliminary study.
Altogether, 410,000 acres may be left unplanted in the San Joaquin
Valley alone, the analysis showed, as farmers enter the growing
season with about two-thirds of the water that they need.
By comparison, a drought in 2009 led to the fallowing of 270,000
acres of cropland and the loss of 7,500 jobs, the study showed.
"Everyone is trying to get a handle on how bad it's going to be,"
said Dave Kranz, a spokesman for the California Farm Bureau
Federation.
Most farmers in California rely on irrigation rather than rain, many
purchasing supplies from federal and state projects that pump from
the San Joaquin-Sacramento River Delta. But less water than normal
is available from those sources this year.
Many are turning to other suppliers or to groundwater wells on their
property, Kranz said, but the study showed that pumping from wells
will cost farmers an additional $448 million.
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California Governor Jerry Brown, who blames the drought in part on
climate change, said Monday the state would do everything possible
to help farmers weather the drought.
"We're going to be steadfast in the state of California in doing
everything we need to do to make agriculture work, to use our water
as carefully as possible," Brown told attendees at the university's
conference on climate change and agriculture in Sacramento on
Monday.
To make more water available to farmers, his administration has
eased some environmental protections for endangered fish, and
allowed flexibility in some water rights regulations.
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