I wish to offer my congratulations to my colleague and friend Craig McNamara for being named Agriculturalist of the Year by the California State Fair. Craig is a uniquely visionary leader – someone who is highly deserving of this prestigious award.  Beyond his deep commitment as a farmer and as president of the California State Board of Food and Agriculture, Craig has a passion to bring disparate parties together to focus on the big challenges of our time. He has demonstrated his understanding of the need to reach our next generation through the great work of his groundbreaking Center for Land Based Learning in Winters, which connects students to nature and agriculture and, in the process, helps to groom our future farmers and leaders. Again, my heartfelt congratulations to Craig. He’s an agriculturist for all-time.

By Lauren Sommer

With California’s reservoirs running low, many Central Valley farmers are struggling to keep their trees and crops alive this year.

In the southern San Joaquin Valley, some are getting extra water from an unlikely source: the oil industry.

California is the third largest oil-producing state in the country, extracting roughly 200 million barrels a year. But in the process of getting oil, companies also produce massive volumes of water, found naturally in the same underground formations.

“To produce one barrel of oil, we produce about nine barrels of water,” says Chevron’s Thep Smith, walking around the company’s Kern River oil field, east of Bakersfield. Almost 10,000 pump jacks cover the hills. The field is more than a century old, but is still the second-most productive in the state.

The rock formations that bear oil in California are also full of briny, brackish water, leading to an old saying about oil companies in California: they’re actually water companies that get oil as a byproduct. “This is really a water plant that skims oil,” Smith says.

During this year’s drought, it’s the district’s only reliable supply, since water deliveries from state and federal water projects have been cut completely.

“It’s going to be very tough,” Ansolabehere says. “We’re looking at just making sure the landowners can keep their trees alive this year.”

Other Central Valley water districts are in the same boat right now, which is why Ansolabehere says there’s been a lot of interest in this recycling project.

“Lately, I’ve been getting a lot of phone calls,” he says, “meeting with people that want to do the same type of thing.”

Oil Industry as Water Source, Not Sink

Oil and agriculture have long been neighbors in Kern County. And it hasn’t been lost on farmers that while their water supplies are going dry this year, the industry next door is swimming in billions of gallons.

It’s especially true on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley, where many water districts rely almost entirely on tenuous supplies imported from elsewhere in the state.

After the oil is separated, Chevron handles millions of gallons of water a day. The company uses about a quarter of it to enhance oil production, turning the water into steam and injecting it back into the rock formation to boost oil flow.

“It’s very conceivable that in the very near future,” Hull says, “oil production could be a net provider of water for California ag and other purposes, as opposed to a consumer.”

Opponents have criticized the oil industry’s use of water, largely because the controversial oil extraction technique known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, consumes freshwater. Recycling water would offset that use, but to duplicate Chevron’s project in other parts of the state, the industry would face significant hurdles.

High Water Treatment Costs

“One of the problems they’ve seen at that project is very high arsenic levels in the water,” says Kassie Siegel of the Center for Biological Diversity, an environmental advocacy group.

Until a few years ago, Chevron released water from the Kern River field into a local creek during the winter, when demand from farmers was low. The water wasn’t diluted and the company was fined by the regional water quality control board for violating limits on arsenic.

“It just shows again that there’s no safe way to deal with the oil and gas wastewater,” Siegel says. “Every single method that has been proposed and used has real risks and health harms associated with it.”

Dealing with contaminants could be even tougher in other oil fields. “The water that’s here at Kern River field is at an almost near freshwater quality,” says Chevron’s Abby Auffant, “and that is different from water elsewhere.”

Water produced in the company’s other fields is significantly saltier and would need to go through a treatment process like reverse osmosis, which adds cost.

“If we were able to identify a cost-effective manner in which to treat the water,” Auffant says, “it’s certainly something that we would be interested in.”

The economic case improves in drought years when water prices are sky-high, but drought economics only last so long.

“Normally the water’s going for $30-40 an acre-foot,” says Ansolabehere. “When it costs you $500 to treat it, there’s not really a market except for years like this and then you can’t get the treatment in place in time to really make any effect. So you have to think a couple years ahead.”

As technology advances and reduces those costs, he adds, it becomes more likely that water recycling projects would come together.

For many, the drought has added new urgency, as a reminder of the state’s limited water resources. “I think as the resource becomes more strained, people look to these other sources as a solution,” says Harry Starkey, general manager of the West Kern Water District, west of Bakersfield.

“That conversation is happening on the west side,” Starkey says. “It’ll be interesting to see if you can get oil companies, that tend to be very private, to engage. Getting those two to partner up in those regards – they’re different classmates. It’s a matter of building trust.”

It’s something many farmers are watching closely, as they face the long, dry summer ahead.

Link to article

While most people have a mental image of research that involves scientists in lab coats, test tubes and beakers, and technical language that can seem complex, much of the groundbreaking research conducted by USDA scientists actually ends up on your plate, in your home, or on your back. Their discoveries in the lab truly translate into science you can see.

For example, many of us make a conscious effort to eat healthier and cut calories, but it can be tough when faced with a favorite snack, like French fries. USDA scientists have figured out a way to make French fries healthier. Before frying, scientists exposed potato strips to a few minutes of infrared heat. This forms a crispy outer shell on the outside of the fries, which helps to reduce their oil uptake and ultimately reduces calories per serving. If adopted commercially, this method is great news for both food processors and our waistlines.

Or maybe you’re a healthy snack lover and looking for a way to make your snacks pack an even healthier punch. USDA scientists have found a way to add oat fiber to yogurt without affecting its flavor or texture. Yogurt is already a pretty healthy snack, and adding addition fiber can only help—studies have indicated that oat fiber can help to improve heart health.

If you are lactose-intolerant, you may use Lactaid™ so you can still enjoy dairy products. USDA scientists helped to develop the basis for that product, too. USDA scientists also conducted the core research behind ChoiceBatter, a gluten-free rice flour batter that is now being marketed and sold by CrispTek, LLC.

For those who’ve ever woken up late before a big work meeting, USDA scientists have got your back here, too. They helped to develop cotton fabric that is wrinkle-free and fire-resistant.

If you’re a cat person, you may someday see USDA science impact your pet. USDA scientists have developed a kitty litter product that’s nearly 100 percent biodegradable and made from spent grains, often referred to as dried distiller’s grains (DDGs), leftover from the process of making corn ethanol. DDGs are often used as cattle feed, but this new product may provide a higher-value market for the tons of DDGs leftover after ethanol production.

And, to the delight of farmers and people with noses everywhere, USDA scientists are part of a team of researchers investigating ways to combat the brown marmorated stink bug, which in addition to having a distinct odor, can also cause serious damage to valuable agricultural crops.

These are just some of the ways that research conducted by USDA scientists and partner research institutions touch your daily life. Beyond that, agricultural research also helps to boost the economy. Studies have shown that every dollar invested in agricultural research returns $20 to the economy. In the past five years alone, research by USDA scientists has led to award of 215 patents covering a wide range of topics and discoveries. One of its research agencies, the Agricultural Research Service (ARS), currently has 380 active licenses of ARS-developed technology that are supporting new businesses and job opportunities across the country.

The recently-signed 2014 Farm Bill will help to build on these accomplishments by establishing a new research foundation that leverages private sector funding to support groundbreaking agricultural research. You can follow the USDA’s progress in implementing the new farm bill and establishing the research foundation at www.usda.gov/farmbill.

Thanks to the new Farm Bill, the USDA can continue the vital research and innovation that that have enhanced food safety and nutrition, made farming and ranching more efficient, and improved quality of life for millions of people in the United States and around the world.

Link to article

By John Schwartz

LOCKEFORD, Calif. — Helping America’s beleaguered bees could start with something as humble as planting a shrub.

Here in California’s Central Valley, researchers are trying to find assortments of bee-friendly plants that local farmers and ranchers can easily grow, whether in unusable corners and borders of their land or on acreage set aside with government support.

Bees could certainly use the assist. Since 2006, the commercial beekeepers who raise honeybees and transport them across the country to pollinate crops have reported losing a third of their colonies each year, on average.

Native species of bees, too, have been in decline. That is taking a toll on crops that rely on bees for pollination, including many nuts and fruits. The Department of Agriculture says that one of every three bites that Americans take is affected, directly or indirectly, by bees. They cause an estimated $15 billion increase in agricultural crop value each year.

The causes of the decline, known as colony collapse disorder, are still being studied. But they appear to be a combination of factors that include parasites, infection and insecticides. Underlying all of these problems is the loss of uncultivated fields with their broad assortment of pollen-rich plants that sustain bees. That land has been developed commercially or converted to farming corn, soybeans and other crops.

The federal government has announced a new $3 million program to step up support for honeybees in five states in the Upper Midwest. Those five — Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin and North and South Dakota — have huge numbers of honeybee colonies at various times of the year, perhaps 65 percent of the nation’s total. Beekeepers truck them around the country in the spring to pollinate commercial crops.

The new program will encourage farmers and ranchers to grow alfalfa, clover and other crops favored by bees and which serve a second purpose of being forage for livestock. Other proposed changes in practices include fencing property for managing grazing pastures in rotation so that they can replenish, leaving living plants for the bees.

Jeffery S. Pettis, who leads bee research at the federal Agricultural Research Service in Beltsville, Md., said the effort to get farmers to plant more crops with pollinators like bees and butterflies in mind was intended to help the creatures weather the challenges of pathogens, parasites and pesticides. “If they have a good nutritional foundation, they can survive some of the things they are faced with,” Dr. Pettis said.

The federal agency that focuses heavily on these issues, the Natural Resources Conservation Service, began in the 1930s as a government effort to help farmers hold on to soil and prevent dust bowls. The 2008 farm bill called for the service to include fostering pollinator health in its efforts in all 50 states.

That, in turn, has led to about 43 million acres of land across the country incorporating conservation features that support pollinator health. From 2009 to 2012, the bill’s environmental quality incentive program spread around $630 million.

In the Central Valley, the research to support that work is done on 106 acres of prime farmland at a Department of Agriculture plant materials center. The results are beautiful: More than 2,200 feet of hedges and fields of blended crops present a feast for the eyes — and for bees — beginning in early spring. On a recent viewing, flowers dotted the landscape with color. The bright orange flowers of California poppies opened near rich purple lupines. Last year, an entomologist found about 50 species of bees and 1,500 other beneficial insects, birds and creatures of all sorts in the hedgerows.

Jessa Cruz, a senior pollinator conservation specialist with the Xerces Society, a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving pollinator health that is collaborating with the center, said drought-resistant plants that are bee friendly are increasingly important in arid California.

“It’s important to be able to tell farmers, ‘You’re not going to have to use your precious water to irrigate your hedgerows,’ ” Ms. Cruz said.

The use of hedgerows and cover crops is on display at nearby Vino Farms, whose grapes are bought by 180 wineries. Growing among the vines are peas and beans, aromatic sage, golden currant, wild rose and even daikon radish.

Chris Storm, the director of viticulture for the company, said that even though grapes are self-fertilizing and do not need bees in the way that the nearby almond orchards do, “We’re doing it for everybody else,” providing a habitat for bees pollinating other crops nearby.

Vino Farms receives other benefits from the plantings, which help reduce the use of pesticides by supporting beneficial creatures like the tiny wasps and green lacewings that kill pests. Mr. Storm has taken out rows of vines for some hedgerows, and has flowering plants growing at the base of vines.

His company’s efforts also allow it to assert that it grows grapes sustainably. The certified sustainable production, he said, can bring a 10 percent increase in price from winemakers looking for a green edge. That translates to anything from $250 to $500 more per ton.

“It doesn’t yet pay for itself,” he said, though he clearly expects it to. It also helps that Mr. Storm is as adept at raising money from government conservation programs as he is at raising grapes and pollinating plants. He is constantly on the lookout for federal and state programs that will help pay for new techniques.

A mix of plants that works beautifully in California’s Central Valley will not necessarily be much good in the Upper Midwest, said Laurie Davies Adams, the executive director of the Pollinator Partnership, which promotes the health of bees, butterflies and other plant helpers.

“When I talk about hedgerows to guys in Iowa, they just kind of glaze over,” Ms. Adams said. The big bushes would interfere with the giant equipment those farmers use, she said, but they might be persuaded to set aside small plots of land for pollen-rich plants, which can help accomplish the same conservation goals.

“This is not one size fits all,” she said. “This is one ethic fits all.”

A major commercial beekeeper, John Miller, said that the multimillion-dollar pollinator program for the Upper Midwest would not work miracles. Spreading the money across five states over several years, he said, doing a little “shirttail math,” means that “you’ve got about a Dixie cup worth of seeds going into a field” in any one season.

He added, however, that the program is good news because it means “the pendulum, perhaps, is beginning to swing back” to paying attention to the role of bees in the food supply.

Surging corn prices have led farmers to grow on every available acre, which has been bad for bee habitats. A. Gary Shilling, an economic consultant, asset manager and avid beekeeper in New Jersey, said corn prices had been coming down again, and that should affect the number of acres they plant. “There will be less incentive to plant fence-row to fence-row,” he said. So pollinator plantings could make a comeback, especially if social pressure encourages farmers to support bees.

“This is a business,” Mr. Shilling said. “Are these guys going to go out of their way for something that’s going to hurt their business, affect their bottom line? Not unless they think they’ll catch some flak if they won’t.”

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USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack is announcing significant progress on implementing the Agricultural Act of 2014 (the 2014 Farm Bill), which President Obama signed into law on February 7. The 2014 Farm Bill reforms agricultural policy, reduces the deficit, and helps grow the economy.

“We are making tremendous progress implementing the new Farm Bill,” said Secretary Vilsack. “This law is critically important to America’s farmers and ranchers and to our nation’s economy. Every USDA agency is working diligently to implement the Farm Bill’s new provisions quickly and effectively.”

With 12 titles and over 450 provisions, the Farm Bill drives food, farm, conservation, trade, research, energy policies and more. Implementing such a large piece of legislation within the mandated timeline requires a coordinated effort across all areas of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Immediately after enactment, USDA established a farm bill implementation team composed of key sub-cabinet officials and experts from every mission area of the Department to put new programs in place and make mandated reforms to existing programs.

USDA also launched a website that provides details on Farm Bill implementation in one convenient location and the Economic Research Service launched a website highlighting some of the economic implications of the new programs and provisions.

In the weeks since enactment, USDA held 12 outreach and listening sessions to share information and hear from stakeholders on the 2014 Farm Bill implementation process.

Important progress has been made on every title of the Farm Bill including updates to risk management tools, modifications to farm loan programs, announcements regarding available funds for agricultural research and much more.

USDA has made providing long-awaited disaster relief to farmers and ranchers a top priority and quick implementation on relief programs is within sight. Beginning April 15, producers will be able to enroll in the Livestock Indemnity Program and the Livestock Forage Disaster Program.

USDA is also highly focused on providing timely educational materials on new risk management programs to farmers so they can make informed business decisions.  Announcements on new agriculture research partnerships, conservation and nutrition programs, and other Farm Bill provisions will continue to be made in the coming weeks and months.

To stay up-to-date on USDA’s Farm Bill implementation progress, visit www.usda.gov/farmbill.

See below for more detailed information on Farm Bill implementation accomplishments to date.

TITLE I – Commodity Programs

• Supplemental Agriculture Disaster Assistance:  USDA will publish a final rule to implement the disaster assistance provisions and begin sign-up by April 15, 2014.
• County and Regional Loan Rates:  USDA issued a press release on March 28, 2014 announcing county and regional loan rates.
• Extension of Programs:  On March 28, 2014, FSA published on the Federal Register notices for the extension of the following programs:  (1) Marketing Assistance Loans; (2) Milk Income Loss Contract; (3) Dairy Indemnity Payment Program; (4) Non-Insured Crop Disaster Assistance Program; and (5) Sugar.
• Dairy Forward Pricing Program:  Final rule published on March 21, 2014, that re-established the Dairy Forward Pricing Program.

TITLE II – Conservation

• Conservation Programs:  Applications are currently being accepted for the Conservation Stewardship Program and Environmental Quality Incentives Program.

TITLE III – Trade

• Market Access Program (MAP):  During the week of April 7, 2014, the Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) will announce 2014 MAP funding.
  Foreign Market Development Cooperator Program (FMD):  During the week of April 7, 2014, FAS will announce 2014 FMD funding.

TITLE IV – Nutrition Programs

• Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) Payments:  On March 5, 2014, the Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) released an Implementation Memorandum to States on the elimination of standard utility allowances in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) for LIHEAP payments less than $20.
• SNAP-related Provisions: On March 21, 2014, FNS released an Implementation Memorandum to States communicating major SNAP related provisions of the Act.
  Community Food Projects:  On February 27, 2014, the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) released a Notice of Funding Availability for the Community Food Projects Competitive Grants Program, with $5 million available.
  Commodity Supplemental Food Program (CSFP):  On March 10, 2014, FNS released an Implementation Memorandum to States on phasing out the eligibility of women, infants and children.
  Multiagency Taskforce on Commodity Programs:  On March 14, 2014, the Under Secretary of Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services issued a memorandum to solicit names for a multiagency task force to provide coordination and direction for commodity programs.   

TITLE V – Credit

• Farm Loan Programs/Direct Farm Ownership:  On February 7, 2014, FSA implemented changes in the interest rate on Direct Farm Ownership loans that are made in conjunction with other lenders.
• Modifications to Farm Loan Programs:  On March 24, 2014, FSA issued a news release in announcing changes to Farm Loan Programs as part of the Farm Bill.
• Microloans:  On March 26, 2014, FSA issued an agency directive implementing non-discretionary microloan provisions.

TITLE VI – Rural Development

• Value Added Producer Grants (VAPG):  On March 25, 2014, Rural Development published a notice in the Federal Register extending the application period for Fiscal Year 2013 and 2014 funding for VAPG, with up to $25.5 million available for these grants.
• Definition of Rural Housing:   On March 13, 2014, Rural Development issued guidance to State Directors, field staff and stakeholders on implementing new eligibility requirements regarding the definition of rural housing.

TITLE VII – Research and Related Matters

• Organic Agriculture Research and Extension Initiative:  On March 17, 2014, NIFA released a Notice of Funding Availability for the Organic Agriculture Research and Extension Initiative, with $20 million available in FY 2014.
  Specialty Crop Research Initiative:  On March 17, 2014, NIFA released a Notice of Funding Availability for the Specialty Crop Research Initiative, with $76.8 million available in FY 2014.
  Citrus Disease Subcommittee:  A subcommittee has been formally established within the National Agricultural Research, Extension, Education, and Economics Advisory Board, under the Specialty Crop Committee, and solicitation letters for nominations were issued March 17, 2014.
  Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research (FFAR):  Letters soliciting nominations to the FFAR Board were mailed to interested parties and a Federal Register notice was submitted for publication on March 31, 2014.
  Budget Submission and Funding: On March 10, 2014, REE submitted its first Budget Submission and Funding report to Congress.

TITLE VIII – Forestry

• Insect and Disease Infestation:  On March 19, 2014, Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell sent a letter to all state governors notifying them of the opportunity to submit requests for designating their priority insect and disease areas for treatment.  

TITLE X – Horticulture

• Plant Pest and Disease Management and Disaster Prevention: On April 3, 2014, USDA announced $48.1 million in funding for 383 projects to help prevent the introduction or spread of plan pests and diseases.
  National Clean Plant Network: The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service announced a Request for Applications (RFA) on March 24, 2014 for the National Clean Plant Network, with $5 million available.
  Bulk Shipments of Apples to Canada:  On April 3, 2014, AMS will publish a final rule in the Federal Register amending regulations under the Export Apple Act to allow bulk containers to be shipped to Canada without U.S. inspection.

TITLE XI – Crop Insurance

• Premium Amounts for Catastrophic Risk Protection (CAT):  During the first week of April, the Risk Management Agency (RMA) will issue documents to revise the premium rates charged for CAT coverage to be based on the average historical “loss ratio” plus a reasonable reserve. 

TITLE XII – Miscellaneous

• Catfish Inspection:  On March 14, 2014, the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) submitted the first status report to Congress on the development of the final rule establishing a catfish inspection program.

Link to news release.

By Paul De Barro and Paolo de Souza, research scientists

Queensland’s fruit and vegetable farmers are under pressure, having lost their main weapon against their main enemy – fruit flies.

Last year, the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority banned the pesticides dimethoate and fenthion, used by horticulturalists to keep Queensland fruit fly (also called Q-fly) at bay, after finding that these chemicals pose an unacceptable risk to human health.

Q-fly is the highest priority pest for a range of horticultural industries and can inflict considerable financial losses on producers, both through the money spent on pest management, and in lost production and exports. It affects citrus, orchard fruits, grapes and vegetables, industries that together are worth $5.3 billion a year. Managing Q-fly costs an estimated $26 million annually.

But the pesticide ban has opened up the opportunity to develop a more sophisticated – and benign – way to beat the Q-fly.

Bizarre as it might sound, flies wearing tiny radio-tracking backpacks could help by revealing the fruit flies’ movements – and by extension, the best places to release sterile males to reduce the population.

Swarm sensing

Figuring out where insects spend their time, how far they travel and what they are doing has traditionally been very difficult to do in real time. That makes it difficult to develop eradication strategies beyond blanket treatments over wide areas.

But the new micro-tracking technique, known as “swarm sensing”, can reveal this information in unprecedented detail.

As part of a current CSIRO project, we are fitting tiny micro-sensors to 5000 bees in Tasmania, as part of a world-first research program to monitor their movements and their environment.

The ultimate aim is to improve honeybee pollination and productivity on farms, as well as help us monitor for any biosecurity threats, including Colony Collapse Disorder, a global phenomenon where worker bees from a beehive or colony abruptly disappear or die.

Tiny backpacks

The sensors are tiny radio frequency identification sensors that work in a similar way to a vehicle’s e-tag, recording when the insect passes a particular checkpoint. The information is then sent remotely to a central location and we can build a comprehensive three-dimensional model and visualise how the insects move through their landscape.

The sensors are 2.5mm x 2.5mm in size and weigh about 5 milligrams each. A new generation as small as 1.5mm x 1.5mm is being designed; less is more, as smaller sensors will interfere less with the flies’ behaviour.

Honeybees are perfect as a starting point for our research, as they are social insects that return to the same point and operate on a very predictable schedule. Any change in their behaviour indicates a change in their environment.

So when we model their movements, we will be able to recognise very quickly when their activity shows variation and identify the cause. This will help us understand how to maximise their productivity, as well as monitor for any biosecurity threats.

Tackling the Q-fly

Meanwhile, back in Queensland, instead of studying an insect that is vital to our food supply, we are faced with one that threatens it. So we are bringing the same technology to bearon the problem of Q-fly.

Our sensor technology will be used in combination with our sterile insect technology (SIT) research, where we are working with government and industry to develop a male-only line of sterile Q-fly.

We believe that our SIT offers an environmentally-friendly, sustainable and cost-effective approach to controlling this noxious pest.

SIT is a scientifically proven method for suppressing or eradicating fruit fly populations and managing their potential impacts in horticulture production areas. It has already been used with great success around the world and in South Australia to combat the Mediterranean fruit fly. However, the development of male-only sterile Q-fly will be a world first.

Despite all our knowledge of fruit flies, we do not actually know where they go to reproduce. When you are looking to deploy sterile male flies to disrupt the mating cycle, this information is a critical piece of the puzzle.

By releasing fruit flies with “backpacks” that can track their movements, we will be able to answer that question, which will assist us in targeting where to release the sterile Q-fly males. We will also find out how to better deploy traps and baits, so that we can improve their effectiveness, while reducing the costs of management.

This will also help farmers in currently pest-free areas to protect their produce. While these areas have not needed to use treatments before sending their fruit and vegetables to interstate or international markets, they face increasing risk as Q-fly incursions are happening more frequently, threatening the ability to maintain pest-free zones.

Future developments

The next generation of sensors will generate power from insect movement, store the energy in batteries being developed at CSIRO and will have some tracking capability to follow their movement in real-time. Among other things, we also want to understand insect behaviour under different weather conditions.

That would truly represent a game-changing opportunity, allowing us to track and record thousands of insects in their natural habitats, in relatively remote areas.

Queensland is no stranger to swarms of backpackers – but this time, it’s a little more high-tech.

Link to article

By David Mas Masumoto

In this drought year, it’s my only hope. Yet I can’t see it, hear it or feel it. It lies hidden deep beneath my farm. Without it, my farm and my neighbors go thirsty. All my senses focus on groundwater.

With a depleted snowpack in the Sierra and record low reservoirs, thousands of Central Valley farms will depend on water extracted from wells to keep their plants alive and to grow food. Hundreds of pumps in Valley cities and towns also supply water to tens of thousands of thirsty households. Farmers and city folks will pray our machines will continue to suck water from aquifers below our lands.

We are forced to visualize a new landscape. We will desperately learn how to read maps to determine groundwater depths under our homes and farms, and make educated guesses of how much longer our wells will provide us with the life-giving elixir.

Like an explorer of uncharted seas, I’ve spread out hydrology maps of groundwater levels on my kitchen counter, trying to make sense of the curving lines cutting across our Valley floor. It’s a topography chart of the unseen and concealed treasure under my feet. I run my fingers over the lines, hoping to acquire a feel of this unknown landscape. I have to learn how to read this new terrain and see the invisible.

Location. Location. Location. Real estate with a twist: where a farm or city lies and their water deposits (or lack of) will determine survival or death.

My farm is just south of Fresno and happens to be in a good water zone. I think I’m lucky – this is all unexplored territory. My water table sits about 50 feet beneath the ground’s surface. I have two wells, each dropping 200 feet, and good pumps. In the last 15 years, my water table has dropped 20 to 30 feet. I’m lucky. I thank my father who happened to buy this farm with unknown buried treasures of liquid gold.

Yet in the last few years, the water table has receded at a much quicker pace due to a lack of rainfall to recharge the underground aquifers and to farmers who were forced to tap underground pools because of very limited supplies of surface water. How long will our groundwater last? Who regulates this hidden asset? Who owns this fortune? These questions will haunt me for the future and will have an impact on my children’s dreams of farming.

In California, groundwater operates with very little regulation. The next great debate will challenge private property rights vs. government regulation. I believe we must first explore monitoring systems and create local districts to establish protocols for reasonable and sustainable groundwater use. This will force cities and farms to adopt a regional approach to groundwater management – we all contribute to a liquid savings account.

Yet a challenge will arise – must regions cooperate with each other? Perhaps then a water marketing structure will be established with dollars as the determining factor. That troubles me, because then my worth as a farmer may be determined only by the price of water. Will I then become a prospector and miner, part of a modern-day film “There Will Be Blood”?

Twenty miles to the west, farms sit on a cliff. Literally. The aquifer crashes downward to 200 to 220 feet below ground level. The underground terrain radically shifts and aquifers collapse. Those farmers will struggle, forced to employ deeper wells with huge pumps and for very, very expensive water. Some of that water has high mineral accumulation and is not the best for irrigation. The landscape beneath those farms is not kind.

Yet in other parts of our Valley, like the Sacramento area, it is like living on another planet. Water tables are higher than in the San Joaquin Valley and have not collapsed with this drought. It’s the luck of geography and planning, more rainfall and rivers that recharge the land, a land where two rivers, the Sacramento and San Joaquin, converge to form the Delta.

These aquifers are different, fed for eons by different flows of water. I can’t read their maps – they don’t make sense to an “arid” farmer in the south with my coarse soils. Groundwater acquires a different meaning for them. They are on Mars while I live on Venus.

We reside and farm in a groundwater oasis; the Central Valley Aquifer system blesses our lands. An aquifer is not a river but more like pools of water squeezed between layers of rock and earth. They are fed by rain, seepage from rivers and reservoirs, and snowmelt – also by irrigation. We forget that not all the water I apply to my fields is taken up by plants. In fact, when we furrow irrigate, the majority of the water is not lost but percolates into the earth and recharges the aquifer.

Just as surface water feeds our aquifer, the opposite is true: Pumping can deplete groundwater supplies. Overdrafting means more water is taken than given, and like a bank, we will pay for it in the long run. We think of this drought being a few years old, and quickly ignore decades-long droughts that are part of our history.

We live in a geography of hope. Hope for adequate rain and snow, hope for a short-term drought, hope our groundwater will last long enough to weather this thirst. At times, optimism blinds us; already I anxiously read long-range weather reports and the potential for El Niño next year – which can mean rain.

But the hidden landscape beneath us will quickly become visible, dividing our lands and landowners into the haves and have nots. Water will gradually be depleted – not just on farms but also in small towns and cities. When we turn on our taps and pumps and only a trickle flows, the curse of limited groundwater will be felt.

We are not dinosaurs who blindly faced a changing climate and environment. We can learn to read maps and see the future. We can begin to address this crisis with planning, policy and sacrifice. On our farm, we’ve retired 20 percent of the land and are experimenting with fallowing some of our perennial crops. We may all have to share in this solution. And the dreaded “C” word escapes from our dry lips and parched throats: compromise.

LINK TO ARTICLE