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Troubled times for California agriculture

California agriculture continues to struggle under the continuing drought.  Steve Maddox has Maddox Farms at Riverdale, California, about halfway between Los Angeles and Sacramento.  Besides the dairy farm, he has 2,300 acres of wine grapes and 1,500 acres of almonds.

From the dairy perspective, Maddox says yes, California milk production is running a little behind year-ago levels although one has to remember production was up a year ago.  He says forage quality is a bit lower from the drought and some forage acreage has been left fallow leaving water for the better ground.  Maddox is not getting any water from the state’s system, everything is coming from wells on his property.  Dairy cow numbers in the state are “flat” but he notes some big dairies are selling out with the cows moving to the Midwest.

Last year, a number of almond producers knocked the buds off the trees to reduce water usage to just enough to keep the trees alive.  Last year’s California almond production was reduced about 5 percent, he expects another 3-to-4 percent reduction this year.  The dry conditions prompted the trees to blossom earlier and that will result in a smaller crop.  Maddox says some are tearing out the old trees and putting in new ones, the younger trees take less water.

He says the situation is worse for grapes where “thousands and thousands of acres” are being pulled out due to the lack of a premium market.  Maddox says California wine makers have imported a lot juice from Australia and Chile, lowering the demand for California grapes.  “Some of the wine grapes are at the end of their 15 or 20-year contracts and any new, long-term contracts are just not there right now.”  He says producers need long-term contracts to pay for the investment of planting the grapes, no contracts – no grapes.

Recently Governor Jerry Brown ordered cities and municipalities to reduce water use by 25 percent.  Some have complained the cut was not extended to agriculture but Maddox says the Governor knows agriculture has already cut water use significantly.  The last five years those in the federal water systems have seen allocations reduced to 15-to-20 percent of what was already reduced by 40 percent.  The state system has cut allocations by 50 percent.  He expects 600,000 to 700,000 acres of California farmland will be left fallow this year for lack of water.

Maddox says all of California agriculture is in trouble and the cities are running out of water.  He says the state had a great water plan for the 60’s, 70’s and early 80’s but it just isn’t enough for today’s California.  The state’s population has almost doubled since any new dams have been built.  “Our city governments out here are still approving large tracts of homes without any new water supplies or even knowing where the water is going to come from to provide for these houses.”  Each household takes about the same amount of water as an acre of crops so there are some serious decisions which need to be made.

Steve talks about the situation: