- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
Due to the California drought and what scientists believe will be a drier future, the state's farmers will likely move away from commodity crops to focus on high-value products like almonds, pistachios and wine grapes, according to Richard Howitt, agricultural economist at UC Davis. Howitt was used as a source in a lengthy story on Bloomberg.com about repercussions worldwide of the three-year dry spell in the Golden State.
Another source was Dan Sumner, director of the UC Agricultural Issues...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
The California drought will cost the state's agriculture industry about $1 billion in lost revenue, reported David Pierson in the Los Angeles Times. Total statewide economic cost of the drought was calculated to be $2.2 billion.
The story was based on a report released Tuesday by the UC Davis Center for Watershed Sciences. The 2014 drought, the report says, is responsible for the greatest water loss ever seen in California agriculture - about one third less than normal.
A key concern is the loss of agricultural jobs, said lead author
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
A climate researcher used a colorful word picture at a conference Monday in Sacramento to convey the gravity of rising temperatures on earth, reported Elizabeth Case in the Davis Enterprise.
"The climate is an angry beast and we're poking it with a sharp stick" said Benjamin Santer, a research scientist at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
The conference, hosted by UC's Giannini Foundation of Agricultural Economics, covered water use, adaptation to a changed climate and tangible predicted impacts on California's agricultural production, the...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
Agricultural operations ranging from small family farms to agribusiness giants are feeling the pinch of the California drought, reported Dale Kasler in the Sacramento Bee. Growers are fallowing land, tapping expensive groundwater and rationing supplies to keep their orchards and vineyards alive.
The article said west side farming giant Harris Ranch plans to fallow thousands of acres of cropland and use it's scarce water supplies to irrigate permanent crops: almonds, pistachios and asparagus. The ranch says it will hire at least 1,000 fewer field workers than usual this year.
“The trees are there. They can't be moved, they...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
Authors of a newly published water policy book say a new approach is needed to manage California’s aquatic ecosystems, according to a Public Policy Institute of California news release about the publication.
Recommendations include moving away from the current strategy, which aims to save one species at a time under the federal and state Endangered Species Acts. Instead, a broader approach would create better conditions for many species and address the multiple causes of ecosystem decline.
Wide-ranging water policy reforms are detailed in Managing California’s Water: From Conflict to...