News

California rice growers may sell some water

The City of Los Angeles and area municipalities are offering California farmers a premium for their water. The Sacramento Bee says the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California and other agencies are offering up to $71 million to rice farmers served by the Feather River.

The water districts are offering $700 per acre-foot of water. An acre-foot is 326,000 gallons, roughly a year’s supply for two households.  An acre of rice takes three acre-feet so idling an acre would yield the farmer $2,100 compared to a profit of $1,000 to $1,500 per acre if they plant the rice.

Fed by the southern Cascades and northern Sierra Nevada, the Feather River is the main tributary of the Sacramento River north of the capital city. Growers along the Feather River have senior water rights but that doesn’t guarantee they will get their entire allocation this year.

One concern is that if too many rice acres are unplanted it would do significant damage to rice mills and other businesses which serve the industry. The infrastructure is already stressed by the idling of 140,000 acres of rice which didn’t get planted last year due to the drought.

The latest U.S. Drought Monitor has 68 percent of the Golden State in Extreme drought with nearly 40 percent in Exceptional drought.