Comments on: Pacific Legal Foundation commentary: The Delta smelt’s dirty little secret http://aquafornia.com/archives/9000 The California Water News blog! Fri, 10 Feb 2012 16:03:52 -0800 hourly 1 By: dfb http://aquafornia.com/archives/9000/comment-page-1#comment-14875 dfb Thu, 28 May 2009 07:35:50 +0000 http://aquafornia.com/?p=9000#comment-14875 They, like others, fail to mention the farm workers who marched were paid by their employers and that unemployment in many of the Central Valley towns was over 30% before the delta smelt ruling. That, and contrary reports claim that employment impacts are mitigated as water is shifted to higher value, more labor intensive crops. For example, the migration center at UC Davis says: "Reduced water deliveries in 2009 are leading to fewer crops and fewer jobs for farm and nonfarm workers, especially on the western side of the San Joaquin Valley. In mid-April, the Latino Water Coalition organized a march of farmers and farm workers from Mendota to the San Luis Reservoir near Los Banos. The march, a tactic pioneered by the UFW to draw attention to its causes, did not include the UFW. Farmers shifted their reduced water supplies from lower value crops such as cotton and alfalfa to higher value and more labor-intensive fruits, nuts, and vegetables, reducing the impacts on farm workers. Permanent crops such as almonds require about an acre-foot of water to keep trees alive and 3.5 acre-feet to produce a crop." http://migration.ucdavis.edu/rmn/more.php?id=1418_0_2_0 They, like others, fail to mention the farm workers who marched were paid by their employers and that unemployment in many of the Central Valley towns was over 30% before the delta smelt ruling. That, and contrary reports claim that employment impacts are mitigated as water is shifted to higher value, more labor intensive crops. For example, the migration center at UC Davis says: “Reduced water deliveries in 2009 are leading to fewer crops and fewer jobs for farm and nonfarm workers, especially on the western side of the San Joaquin Valley. In mid-April, the Latino Water Coalition organized a march of farmers and farm workers from Mendota to the San Luis Reservoir near Los Banos. The march, a tactic pioneered by the UFW to draw attention to its causes, did not include the UFW.

Farmers shifted their reduced water supplies from lower value crops such as cotton and alfalfa to higher value and more labor-intensive fruits, nuts, and vegetables, reducing the impacts on farm workers. Permanent crops such as almonds require about an acre-foot of water to keep trees alive and 3.5 acre-feet to produce a crop.” http://migration.ucdavis.edu/rmn/more.php?id=1418_0_2_0

]]>