This is just one post in the Drought, Weather & Snowpack Category

Dry country: Water rationing forces Westlands growers to abandon crops and lay off workers

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on June 15, 2008 at 7:03 am

From the Fresno Bee:

In 47 years of farming, 65-year-old Jim Diedrich has battled it all — hail that savaged his tomatoes, insects that ate his cotton, sagging prices and searing heat. But now he faces something new. He and his son, Todd, must abandon more than a full square mile of tomatoes in the Firebaugh area — their blooms yellow, leaves still green, drooping a little from the lack of water but otherwise standing firm and stretching in endless rows. “Being a farmer, it’s tough to let this go,” Todd Diedrich says.

The Diedrichs are letting 725 acres of tomatoes die so they can keep 550 acres of almond trees alive. “If we lose the trees, a 35-year investment is gone,” Diedrich says.

Unprecedented water rationing, resulting from a drought and court-ordered environmental restrictions on pumping, have forced the move, which will mean millions of dollars in lost revenue this year. Thursday’s emergency declaration by the governor won’t help, Diedrich says.

Many growers in the massive Westlands Water District face the same Sophie’s choice — which crops to save and which to abandon.

The Westlands Water District will receive only 40% of its water allocation for the year, and the resulting decrease in production means many farm workers have been laid off.

Particularly frustrating to the Diedrichs is that they thought they had prepared for drought conditions. In recent years, they spent more than $1 million to put in underground drip irrigation to save water. They added solar sensing equipment to detect moisture levels.

And they purchased water outside the district, water they won’t be able to obtain in the three-month period because of the restricted pumping and the rationing program aimed at making sure the San Luis Reservoir is not drawn so low that deliveries will come to a halt.

The Diedrichs say they don’t expect to be able to collect on crop insurance, though they’re seeking to do so.

“Crop insurance is for a crop failure,” Jim Diedrich says. “No insurance man is going to pay you because you didn’t water your tomatoes.”

Avtar Gill, a partner in Gill Insurance Agency in Caruthers, says Diedrich is right. “It’s not a covered loss,” he says.

Read more from the Fresno Bee by clicking here.

June 15, 2008 · Filed Under Agriculture, Drought, Weather & Snowpack, Westlands Water District