Farmers Want A Solution To CA Water Shortages

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and California’s senior senator, Dianne
Feinstein, at a recent forum where the state’s farmers were able to voice their concerns on subjects impacting the industry, told the group they would press for solutions to the water crisis hitting the state’s San Joaquin Valley, according to the Associated Press.

The San Joaquin Valley is one of the most prolific farm regions in the world, but has recently been struggling. The farmers spoke of great concern about the continuing, three-year drought and water shortages, and the ongoing problems with the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, the fragile ecosystem that serves as the main conduit moving water from north to south.

The drought, combined with environmental restrictions on delta water deliveries to protect a native fish, have forced farmers on the valley’s west side to fallow more than a quarter-million acres and left thousands jobless.

Recently, Democratic Rep. Jim Costa, who represents much of the region, took House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer to the western Fresno County farm community of Mendota, where idled farmworkers have driven the unemployment rate to nearly 40%.

Shortly after Vilsack’s meeting with farmers, Feinstein began a water summit in nearby Coalinga. Fisherman and environmentalists, who have sued state and federal water manager arguing that the ecosystem needs more water to survive were not invited to the private summit.