- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
"The irrigation withdrawals are very clearly what is causing the extremely low flows on both rivers," the article quoted Scott Harding, executive director of Klamath Riverkeeper, a nonprofit watchdog group aimed at restoring the river and its tributaries.
Reporter Dylan Darling turned to UC Cooperative Extension...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
California farmers are known for growing some of the world's finest cotton. Even though, production has been on a steady downward decline since a high of 1.3 million acres in 1979. This year, only about 200,000 acres of California cotton are being cultivated.
The drop can be attributed to a number of factors, according to an article today in AgAlert about the repercussions for the cotton ginning industry. Nearly two-thirds of the cotton gins that operated in California 10 years ago have closed.
Severe water shortages, competition from other countries, high input costs, the worldwide economic crisis are...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
An article in USA Today yesterday pinned 30 percent of the blame for California's drought on the federal government. The other 70 percent is assigned to Mother Nature.
Court and regulatory rulings protecting endangered fish have cut water allocations to irrigated agriculture, compounding a natural dry spell, the story said."This is a regulatory drought, is what it is," the story quoted Firebaugh farmer Todd Alen. "It just doesn't seem fair."
UC Davis ag economist Richard Howitt told the reporter that federal regulations hit particularly hard in the Valley because complicated water-rights laws put farmers at the end of the line in water...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
A news release distributed yesterday by UC ANR News & Info Outreach was within hours picked up by the Central Valley Business Times. The story outlines the impact on UC research of the Westlands Water District's announcement last week that it will not have water to deliver to its constituents during the 2009 water year. The UC West Side Research and Extension Center relies on Westlands water to irrigate research projects.
West Side REC director Bob Hutmacher said, because of the anticipated water shortage, the research program for the 2009 water year must be...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
An AgAlert story by Kate Campbell expands on earlier news coverage of a recent State Board of Food and Agriculture meeting, where UC Davis agricultural economist Richard Howitt offered depressing news about water allocations for the 2009 growing season.
Howitt told the board that, based on an 85 percent cut in water deliveries for the State Water Project and the federal Central Valley Project, "We're estimating a 50 percent increase in groundwater pumping, compared to 2005. We're also factoring in the removal of older permanent crops and the use of stress irrigation, as well as the likelihood of water...
