The lawsuits hit the courts within days of the state mailing notices to some Central Valley irrigation districts: They were to stop diverting from rivers and streams because there wasn't enough water to go around. Unsurprising as the move may be in this fourth year of drought, to the districts, the notices amounted to an
Eastside farmers will receive more water than expected next month from already depleted New Hogan Lake, even though not everyone wants that water. The Stockton East Water District Board of Directors voted Tuesday to send water to all agricultural customers for 10 days at the start of July. That’s a significant change. Earlier this spring,
A rural water agency that was ordered to stop pumping river water to farmers south of the delta sued the state on Thursday, alleging that California officials don’t have the authority to deny their century-old claim to water. The lawsuit, filed by the Banta-Carbona Irrigation District, is one of the first to challenge the water
The tension between California farm interests and the state’s urban water users ratcheted up Tuesday, as a consortium of mostly urban water districts filed a complaint alleging Delta farmers are stealing water. The group of 27 agencies, including the massive Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, said farmers in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta put water
Organic produce and $1.50 hot dogs: That’s what Costco does. According to an analysis released Wednesday by financial firm BMO Capital Markets, the free-sample-slinging grocery chain is projected to sell just over $4 billion in organic products this year, edging out $3.6 billion by Whole Foods to take the national lead. To be fair, Costco
It is estimated that about 564,000 acres will be fallowed because of the drought, resulting in a statewide reduction in gross crop farm revenue of about $856 million. Livestock and dairies may add another $350 million in direct revenue losses for 2015. Regional economic impacts of these cuts were estimated using the IMPLAN model for
California’s water crisis could be on the verge of getting a good deal worse. In a potentially significant setback for a system already stressed by epic drought, California regulators have ordered a temporary curb in the flows being released from Lake Shasta in order to protect an endangered species of salmon. Farmers and others said
It’s time, then, to retire “farm-to-table.” The term has been drained of any real meaning it may have once had. Chefs themselves are getting sick of it. http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2015/05/farm-to-table-what-does-it-mean-anymore
Steadily and alarmingly, humans have been depleting Earth's soil resources faster than the nutrients can be replenished. If this trajectory does not change, soil erosion, combined with the effects of climate change, will present a huge risk to global food security over the next century, warns a review paper authored by some of the top
Most attempts to develop agricultural property won't work, said Charley Wolk, long known as one of California's most influential avocado growers. That's because landowners look for what property specialists call the highest and best use. If the land was best suited for development, that would have already taken place. Land that is best suited for