Drought in California Forces Farmers to Spend on `Fire Water'

[marmar]

from Bloomberg:



Drought in California Forces Farmers to Spend on `Fire Water'

By Adam Satariano

June 24 (Bloomberg) -- California farmer Mike Wood has let $150,000 worth of cotton die. Barry Baker spent $2.5 million to obtain water rights on the open market to salvage his crops. Shawn Coburn is risking long-term damage to his land by pumping water from a 1,200-foot well.

California's first drought since 1992 has pinched the spigot for farmers in the largest U.S. agricultural area. Along the western edge of the San Joaquin Valley, water supply has been reduced by about 50 percent, leading farmers to abandon crops and spend millions of dollars on short-term solutions.

``If the drought were to continue and everything that has been associated with it at the same time were to continue, I don't see myself in this business in five years,'' Wood, a third- generation farmer, said in an interview at his farm in Firebaugh, about 150 miles southeast of San Francisco.

After two years of below-average rainfall, diminished snowmelt runoff from the Sierra Nevada Mountains and court- ordered water-transfer reductions to protect an endangered species, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a drought and deemed nine counties disaster areas because of the economic strain and potential rise in food prices. Schwarzenegger wants to sell $11.9 billion of bonds for new water projects.

The region supplies tomatoes, almonds, grapes, melons, broccoli, cauliflower, lettuce, wheat, onions, garlic and other produce used throughout the U.S. Fresno County, one of the disaster areas, is the largest agricultural county in the U.S., producing $4.8 billion in crops a year, according to the Fresno County Farm Bureau.

Supply Cuts

``I'm very concerned -- panicked is probably a better word,'' said melon broker Stephen Patricio, a former chairman of the Western Growers Association, which is based in Irvine, California.

Westlands Water District is among the areas facing supply cuts after the state's driest March, April and May in more than 85 years. State precipitation is 80 percent of average and snowmelt runoff is 60 percent of normal, according to the state Department of Water Resources in Sacramento. .....(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=aQHnfaaeWKCs&refer=home

[MiniMe]

1. And food prices will take another hike