POST SCRIPTS

Well Pond Oroville should “only” be 220 feet from the top by the end of today….

http://cdec.water.ca.gov/cgi-progs/queryF?ORO

http://cdec.water.ca.gov/jspplot/jspPlotAll.jsp?staid_id=ORO&end=02/22/2009+12:31&cookies=cdec02

Unfortunately, it is still shaping up to be a less than desired year, water wise.

It is downright ugly when we have water districts sending out these kinds of press releases:

http://www.westlandswater.org/wwd/pr/pr20090220.pdf?title=Water%20Allocation%200%

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Sarah Woolf 559-341-0174

February 20, 2009
WATER ALLOCATION 0%

The Westlands Water District today issued the following statement by General Manager
Tom Birmingham.

For the first time in the history of the Central Valley Project, the U.S. Bureau of
Reclamation has announced that farmers will receive none of the water they are allocated.

Zero.

Farmers in the Westlands Water District have already begun destroying thousands of
acres of almond orchards and plan on fallowing over 300,000 acres of land. Wherever
possible, almond production will be stunted in hopes of keeping the trees alive through
this desperate time. But there is no question that many years worth of investments will
inevitably be lost.

The human impact is worse. The latest estimates from the University of California predict
that upwards of 75,000 people will lose their jobs this year and more than $2 billion will
be lost from the state’s economy because of the combination of drought and regulatory
restrictions on water deliveries.

That only accounts for the losses to agriculture south of the Delta. The damage from
water shortages to manufacturing, housing construction, the Silicon Valley and many
other sectors of the economy throughout the state will add immeasurably to the ultimate
toll on California’s working families.

In Westlands, the crisis is well under way. Cropping decisions have already been made.
The fields are being abandoned. The unemployment rate in the community of Mendota
alone has soared to 40 percent.

This is not merely a natural disaster. It is the product of a broken water system that
California’s leaders have neglected for too long. It is the inexorable result of an
inflexible regulatory regime that makes all of our water conveyance problems worse. In
the months ahead, hundreds of thousands of Californians will be paying the price for the
state’s failure to address the need for water.
###

Mark...a (possibly dumb) question from a supportive non-farmer:

What are the reasons for destroying the orchards?

If the trees are well established don't they have some chance of surviving a bad (dry) year? I'll bet our readers would be interested in knowing the thinking behind what seems like an extreme act. Thanks.

I do not know…

I wonder how many acres of Almonds are removed on a typical year as they remove trees that are past their production years….

Speculation would be that lack of water could stress the trees to the point of long term damage. The threat of no water might prompt some to take out trees nearing or past their prime production years.

I don’t know the farming economics, but if water supplies really are going to be beyond “tight”, Some farmers might see the whole exercise as one where the costs to maintain the trees exceeds the value of their crop.

I was surprised to read the press release last week.....

Hopefully we catch up on snow/rain and the picture improves……

Mark,

Here is another question; why plant in the Westlands in the first place?

The area is in a natural sink (no drainage) and it gets less rain than sub-Sahara Africa. Farming there is dependent on government subsidized irrigation.

This seems like a smart move to me, a long overdue retraction of highly marginal land.

Respectfully,

The Other Mark S.

I suppose you could decide the time to "retract" from the land is long overdue but I imagine for those who farm there it's more a matter of personal property, a home, and a means to feed and provide for a family...some have lived there for generations. Farming doesn't represent a pet environmental project or an intellectual exercise on land use. Their water problem has been exacerbated by over zealous people who cannot stand the thought of little fishies having a bad year but don't seem to mind at all if families are harmed and mass food production is interrupted.

Tina,

I don't think you know of the Westland District. It has only been farmed for about 50 years. It is made up of large corporate farms. Their water problems relate entirely to poor location. It is a clear example of corporate welfare. Watch the PBS series Cadillac Desert.
Respectfully,

Mark

Personally, I am not familiar with that area.

While Northern California seems to be holding up better than the Central Valley areas, it would seem that California’s ~ 32 billion dollar a year ag industries (plus another few billion for processing, packaging and transportation) are under adverse pressure due to water shortages.

No matter how you slice it, or might want to argue in favor of some areas of correction, now is not a great time for this calamity to hit the state.

Not that any time would be a great time, but clearly ag getting hit hard this year would add severe insult to the financial injuries of the state.

Thanks for the information Mark. I guess I assumed that since Mark S. was speaking about farmers removing trees we were talking about areas around Chico.

Large corporate farms also feed a lot of people; the need for water is still important.

I'm all for ending welfare for corporations...let's end all government intervention and taxation for private business as well.

Forgot to add these news releases from Friday 02/20/09:

http://www.usbr.gov/newsroom/newsrelease/detail.cfm?RecordID=26721

http://www.water.ca.gov/news/newsreleases/2009/022009allocations.doc

with ag getting small portions of their "normal" allocations, it absolutely will take billions of dollars of ag production, transportation, processing, packaging, etc out of the state economy.... es no bueno....