Water Education Foundation
This is just one post in the Agriculture Category
Click here to view all posts

Drought can cloud focus on what should be adding water storage; Commentary touts the benefits of California’s rice industry

Posted by: Maven on April 26, 2009 at 7:56 am

From the Marysville Appeal-Democrat, this commentary by Tim Johnson, president and CEO of the California Rice Commission:

California’s unrelenting drought should spur collective action to find ways to fix the problem, such as building additional water storage and increased conservation when feasible. Improving our plight is infinitely tougher when a lack of media balance and outdated thinking enter in.

Articles such as the recent “Feds pay farmers to till arid land” from the Associated Press are misleading and not constructive. This article claims that federal programs provide an unfair “double dip” of subsidies for growers of certain crops, including rice, to farm “water-thirsty crops in what was once desert.” This is a worn out argument that has been resurfacing for decades, and is no closer to being true now than it was when the late Marc Reisner wrote his views about California rice production in the impactful book “Cadillac Desert” in 1986.

The truth is that California’s 2,500 rice farmers have some of the most senior water rights in the state, and for good reason. The overwhelming amount of water used in the Sacramento Valley, which is where more than 95 percent of the state’s crop is grown, is not subsidized. Our water source comes from dams and canals developed and paid for by farmers.

All Californians benefit from rice fields in the state — most people just don’t realize it.

Click here to read more about the economic, environmental, and other benefits in the commentary by clicking here.

April 26, 2009 · Filed Under Agriculture

Comments

Leave a Reply