{"id":988,"date":"2012-01-03T11:23:17","date_gmt":"2012-01-03T18:23:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/plantingseedsblog.cdfa.ca.gov\/wordpress\/?p=988"},"modified":"2012-01-03T11:23:17","modified_gmt":"2012-01-03T18:23:17","slug":"the-grower-report-backs-california-farmers-efficient-use-of-water","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/plantingseedsblog-test.cdfa.ca.gov\/index.php\/2012\/01\/03\/the-grower-report-backs-california-farmers-efficient-use-of-water\/","title":{"rendered":"The Grower &#8211; Report backs California farmers&#8217; efficient use of water"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thegrower.com\/issues\/the-grower\/Report-backs-California-farmers-efficient-use-of-water-135867553.html?ref=553\">http:\/\/www.thegrower.com\/issues\/the-grower\/Report-backs-California-farmers-efficient-use-of-water-135867553.html?ref=553<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Over the years, growers\u2014particularly those who farm in the arid West\u2014have<br \/>\ngotten a bad rap as water-wasters. Nowhere are the voices louder than in<br \/>\nCalifornia, which has faced droughts over the past three decades as well as<br \/>\nescalating competition among water users.<\/p>\n<p>Many environmental groups criticize the state\u2019s agriculture for using what<br \/>\nthey perceive as wasteful irrigation practices. Many of these same groups<br \/>\ncontend that if the state\u2019s farmers would just conserve a tad more, it would<br \/>\nfree up a lot more water for environmental or municipal uses.<\/p>\n<p>A new report counters most of those critics by finding that by and large,<br \/>\nCalifornia agriculture is efficient in its use of irrigation. It also finds that<br \/>\neven if growers adopt the latest technology, it would free up little additional<br \/>\nwater.<\/p>\n<p>The report was prepared by California State University, Fresno\u2019s Center for<br \/>\nIrrigation Technology. It was reviewed by a list of California Department of<br \/>\nWater Resources and University of California water experts and updates a similar document written in 1982.<\/p>\n<p>The authors of the report found that growers could improve water use<br \/>\nefficiency by only 1.3 percent, which would free up 330,000 acre-feet. That<br \/>\namounts to less than 0.5 percent of the state\u2019s total water use of 62.66 million<br \/>\nacre-feet.<\/p>\n<p>Critics point out that agriculture consumes 80 percent of the state\u2019s<br \/>\ndeveloped water. But when you look at how much water is dedicated to different<br \/>\nuses, such as wildlife, municipalities and industries, that figure drops to 40<br \/>\npercent for agriculture.<\/p>\n<p>The public also may not realize that agriculture has given up 5 percent of<br \/>\nits surface water supply to environmental uses since the 1982 document was<br \/>\nwritten.<\/p>\n<p>Sure, agriculture can always do a better job irrigating. Growers can avoid<br \/>\nirrigating during the heat of the day when evapotranspiration rates are the<br \/>\nhighest, and they can regularly inspect irrigation systems to ensure nozzles<br \/>\naren\u2019t plugged or worn.<\/p>\n<p>But with every change in irrigation practices comes a consequence\u2014either<br \/>\ndesirable or undesirable.<\/p>\n<p>If growers, for example, installed tailwater return systems to catch runoff<br \/>\nthat would otherwise return to nearby waterways, users downstream would be<br \/>\naffected by the reduced flows. So would wildlife.<\/p>\n<p>Other critics have suggested that farmers take marginal ground out of<br \/>\nproduction, thus freeing up water for other uses.<\/p>\n<p>But the reports\u2019 authors say that shouldn\u2019t be viewed as conservation but<br \/>\ninstead a transfer of water out of agriculture. In addition, what happens to the<br \/>\njobs that were tied to those irrigated fields?<\/p>\n<p>In 2010, California\u2019s farmers and ranchers received nearly $41 billion for<br \/>\ntheir production. Using an economic multiplier of 2.1, that means ag contributed nearly $86 billion to the state\u2019s economy. Directly and indirectly, the industry was responsible for more than 1.3 million jobs.<\/p>\n<p>Despite this latest evidence supporting agricultural irrigation efficiency,<br \/>\nyou can bet that at least some criticism will continue to flow.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>http:\/\/www.thegrower.com\/issues\/the-grower\/Report-backs-California-farmers-efficient-use-of-water-135867553.html?ref=553 Over the years, growers\u2014particularly those who farm in the arid West\u2014have gotten a bad rap as water-wasters. Nowhere are the voices louder than in California, which has faced droughts over the past three decades as well as escalating competition among water users. Many environmental groups criticize the state\u2019s agriculture for using what they perceive as wasteful irrigation practices. Many &hellip;<\/p>\n<div class=\"m-y-md text-right\"><a href=\"https:\/\/plantingseedsblog-test.cdfa.ca.gov\/index.php\/2012\/01\/03\/the-grower-report-backs-california-farmers-efficient-use-of-water\/\" class=\"btn btn-primary\" aria-label=\"Continue reading the blog post...\">Read More<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-988","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\r\n<title>The Grower - Report backs California farmers&#039; efficient use of water - CDFA&#039;s Planting Seeds Blog<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\r\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/plantingseedsblog-test.cdfa.ca.gov\/index.php\/2012\/01\/03\/the-grower-report-backs-california-farmers-efficient-use-of-water\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Grower - Report backs California farmers&#039; efficient use of water - CDFA&#039;s Planting Seeds Blog\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"http:\/\/www.thegrower.com\/issues\/the-grower\/Report-backs-California-farmers-efficient-use-of-water-135867553.html?ref=553 Over the years, growers\u2014particularly those who farm in the arid West\u2014have gotten a bad rap as water-wasters. Nowhere are the voices louder than in California, which has faced droughts over the past three decades as well as escalating competition among water users. Many environmental groups criticize the state\u2019s agriculture for using what they perceive as wasteful irrigation practices. 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