- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
Even though California's majestic oak trees are generally considered drought tolerant, the last four years of well-below-average rainfall are taking a toll, reported the Sierra Sun Times.
"In some parts of the state, oaks are being deprived of water for as long as nine months, creating extreme water stress," said Greg Giusti, a forest and wildlands advisor for UC Agriculture and Natural Resources. Giusti is headquartered in the UC ANR Cooperative Extension office in...
- Author: Pamela Kan-Rice
Covering the ongoing drought, Peter King wrote a story in the Los Angeles Times about different approaches being taken around the state to manage with less water. From desalination facilities to solar-powered telemetry towers to help improve irrigation efficiency in an almond orchard to water storage projects, the former UCOP news director highlighted a number of efforts to plan for a drier future. He ended up at UC ANR's South Coast Research and Extension Center, looking at the landscape project...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
California growers are plumbing the depths beneath their farms to retrieve groundwater for thirsty crops, an example of the tragedy of the commons, reported Peter Coy in Bloomberg Businessweek.
One reason: California water is not liquid, financially speaking, said a UC Agriculture and Natural Resources expert. California's mechanism for trading water is slow, clunky, and opaque.
“If you wanted to do a trade now, you'd have to meet a broker in a coffee shop somewhere. There's no Wall Street Journal, no Bloomberg, no Carfax,” said
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
As the California drought wears on, media have reached out this week to UC Agriculture and Natural Resources advisors about consequences in agricultural cropland, urban landscapes and fire-prone wildland.
Agricultural cropland
NPR's Valley Public Radio ran a story about salt buildup in almond orchards. Without rainfall to move salts below almond trees' rootzone, harmful levels of salinity are building up in the soil. “We've been seeing this increasing problem over the past couple years, due to the lack of winter rain, of...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
The California drought has farmers looking for technical innovations that will help them save water, reported Ilan Brat in the Wall Street Journal.
The article said, in the past, the state's farmers have focused on lowering their costs for labor, energy and other inputs. But now water efficiency has their attention. New technologies described in the article include:
- a nontoxic gel that, mixed in soil, stores and slowly releases water near the roots
- a machine that electrically charges mists of pesticides and nutrients to make them stick to leaves more evenly
- satellite and aerial imagery that...
