{"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.cdfa.ca.gov\/wordpress\/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 &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/plantingseedsblog.cdfa.ca.gov\/wordpress\/index.php\/2012\/01\/03\/the-grower-report-backs-california-farmers-efficient-use-of-water\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_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}},"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 v27.2 - 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.cdfa.ca.gov\/wordpress\/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 &hellip; Continue reading &rarr;\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/plantingseedsblog.cdfa.ca.gov\/wordpress\/index.php\/2012\/01\/03\/the-grower-report-backs-california-farmers-efficient-use-of-water\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"CDFA&#039;s Planting Seeds Blog\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-01-03T18:23:17+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Office of Public Affairs\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Office of Public Affairs\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\r\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/plantingseedsblog.cdfa.ca.gov\/wordpress\/index.php\/2012\/01\/03\/the-grower-report-backs-california-farmers-efficient-use-of-water\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/plantingseedsblog.cdfa.ca.gov\/wordpress\/index.php\/2012\/01\/03\/the-grower-report-backs-california-farmers-efficient-use-of-water\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Office of Public Affairs\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/plantingseedsblog.cdfa.ca.gov\/wordpress\/#\/schema\/person\/abce383c670223ef4f55f3f21f102e76\"},\"headline\":\"The Grower &#8211; Report backs California farmers&#8217; efficient use of water\",\"datePublished\":\"2012-01-03T18:23:17+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/plantingseedsblog.cdfa.ca.gov\/wordpress\/index.php\/2012\/01\/03\/the-grower-report-backs-california-farmers-efficient-use-of-water\/\"},\"wordCount\":491,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/plantingseedsblog.cdfa.ca.gov\/wordpress\/#organization\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/plantingseedsblog.cdfa.ca.gov\/wordpress\/index.php\/2012\/01\/03\/the-grower-report-backs-california-farmers-efficient-use-of-water\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/plantingseedsblog.cdfa.ca.gov\/wordpress\/index.php\/2012\/01\/03\/the-grower-report-backs-california-farmers-efficient-use-of-water\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/plantingseedsblog.cdfa.ca.gov\/wordpress\/index.php\/2012\/01\/03\/the-grower-report-backs-california-farmers-efficient-use-of-water\/\",\"name\":\"The Grower - Report backs California farmers' efficient use of water - CDFA&#039;s Planting Seeds Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/plantingseedsblog.cdfa.ca.gov\/wordpress\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-01-03T18:23:17+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/plantingseedsblog.cdfa.ca.gov\/wordpress\/index.php\/2012\/01\/03\/the-grower-report-backs-california-farmers-efficient-use-of-water\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/plantingseedsblog.cdfa.ca.gov\/wordpress\/index.php\/2012\/01\/03\/the-grower-report-backs-california-farmers-efficient-use-of-water\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/plantingseedsblog.cdfa.ca.gov\/wordpress\/index.php\/2012\/01\/03\/the-grower-report-backs-california-farmers-efficient-use-of-water\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/plantingseedsblog.cdfa.ca.gov\/wordpress\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Grower &#8211; Report backs California farmers&#8217; efficient use of water\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/plantingseedsblog.cdfa.ca.gov\/wordpress\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/plantingseedsblog.cdfa.ca.gov\/wordpress\/\",\"name\":\"CDFA's Planting Seeds Blog\",\"description\":\"Making California a better place to live because of what we grow and how we grow it.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/plantingseedsblog.cdfa.ca.gov\/wordpress\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/plantingseedsblog.cdfa.ca.gov\/wordpress\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/plantingseedsblog.cdfa.ca.gov\/wordpress\/#organization\",\"name\":\"CDFA's Planting Seeds Blog\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/plantingseedsblog.cdfa.ca.gov\/wordpress\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/plantingseedsblog.cdfa.ca.gov\/wordpress\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/plantingseedsblog.cdfa.ca.gov\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/CDFA-logo-horizontal-hi-res-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/plantingseedsblog.cdfa.ca.gov\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/CDFA-logo-horizontal-hi-res-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":585,\"caption\":\"CDFA's Planting Seeds Blog\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/plantingseedsblog.cdfa.ca.gov\/wordpress\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/plantingseedsblog.cdfa.ca.gov\/wordpress\/#\/schema\/person\/abce383c670223ef4f55f3f21f102e76\",\"name\":\"Office of Public Affairs\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/plantingseedsblog.cdfa.ca.gov\/wordpress\/index.php\/author\/publicaffairs\/\"}]}<\/script>\r\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Grower - Report backs California farmers' efficient use of water - CDFA&#039;s Planting Seeds Blog","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/plantingseedsblog.cdfa.ca.gov\/wordpress\/index.php\/2012\/01\/03\/the-grower-report-backs-california-farmers-efficient-use-of-water\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Grower - Report backs California farmers' efficient use of water - CDFA&#039;s Planting Seeds Blog","og_description":"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 &hellip; Continue reading &rarr;","og_url":"https:\/\/plantingseedsblog.cdfa.ca.gov\/wordpress\/index.php\/2012\/01\/03\/the-grower-report-backs-california-farmers-efficient-use-of-water\/","og_site_name":"CDFA&#039;s Planting Seeds Blog","article_published_time":"2012-01-03T18:23:17+00:00","author":"Office of Public Affairs","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Office of Public Affairs","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/plantingseedsblog.cdfa.ca.gov\/wordpress\/index.php\/2012\/01\/03\/the-grower-report-backs-california-farmers-efficient-use-of-water\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/plantingseedsblog.cdfa.ca.gov\/wordpress\/index.php\/2012\/01\/03\/the-grower-report-backs-california-farmers-efficient-use-of-water\/"},"author":{"name":"Office of Public Affairs","@id":"https:\/\/plantingseedsblog.cdfa.ca.gov\/wordpress\/#\/schema\/person\/abce383c670223ef4f55f3f21f102e76"},"headline":"The Grower &#8211; Report backs California farmers&#8217; efficient use of water","datePublished":"2012-01-03T18:23:17+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/plantingseedsblog.cdfa.ca.gov\/wordpress\/index.php\/2012\/01\/03\/the-grower-report-backs-california-farmers-efficient-use-of-water\/"},"wordCount":491,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/plantingseedsblog.cdfa.ca.gov\/wordpress\/#organization"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/plantingseedsblog.cdfa.ca.gov\/wordpress\/index.php\/2012\/01\/03\/the-grower-report-backs-california-farmers-efficient-use-of-water\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/plantingseedsblog.cdfa.ca.gov\/wordpress\/index.php\/2012\/01\/03\/the-grower-report-backs-california-farmers-efficient-use-of-water\/","url":"https:\/\/plantingseedsblog.cdfa.ca.gov\/wordpress\/index.php\/2012\/01\/03\/the-grower-report-backs-california-farmers-efficient-use-of-water\/","name":"The Grower - Report backs California farmers' efficient use of water - CDFA&#039;s Planting Seeds Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/plantingseedsblog.cdfa.ca.gov\/wordpress\/#website"},"datePublished":"2012-01-03T18:23:17+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/plantingseedsblog.cdfa.ca.gov\/wordpress\/index.php\/2012\/01\/03\/the-grower-report-backs-california-farmers-efficient-use-of-water\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/plantingseedsblog.cdfa.ca.gov\/wordpress\/index.php\/2012\/01\/03\/the-grower-report-backs-california-farmers-efficient-use-of-water\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/plantingseedsblog.cdfa.ca.gov\/wordpress\/index.php\/2012\/01\/03\/the-grower-report-backs-california-farmers-efficient-use-of-water\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/plantingseedsblog.cdfa.ca.gov\/wordpress\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Grower &#8211; Report backs California farmers&#8217; efficient use of water"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/plantingseedsblog.cdfa.ca.gov\/wordpress\/#website","url":"https:\/\/plantingseedsblog.cdfa.ca.gov\/wordpress\/","name":"CDFA's Planting Seeds Blog","description":"Making California a better place to live because of what we grow and how we grow it.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/plantingseedsblog.cdfa.ca.gov\/wordpress\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/plantingseedsblog.cdfa.ca.gov\/wordpress\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/plantingseedsblog.cdfa.ca.gov\/wordpress\/#organization","name":"CDFA's Planting Seeds Blog","url":"https:\/\/plantingseedsblog.cdfa.ca.gov\/wordpress\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/plantingseedsblog.cdfa.ca.gov\/wordpress\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/plantingseedsblog.cdfa.ca.gov\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/CDFA-logo-horizontal-hi-res-scaled.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/plantingseedsblog.cdfa.ca.gov\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/CDFA-logo-horizontal-hi-res-scaled.jpg","width":2560,"height":585,"caption":"CDFA's Planting Seeds Blog"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/plantingseedsblog.cdfa.ca.gov\/wordpress\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/plantingseedsblog.cdfa.ca.gov\/wordpress\/#\/schema\/person\/abce383c670223ef4f55f3f21f102e76","name":"Office of Public Affairs","url":"https:\/\/plantingseedsblog.cdfa.ca.gov\/wordpress\/index.php\/author\/publicaffairs\/"}]}},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2eYDv-fW","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/plantingseedsblog.cdfa.ca.gov\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/988","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/plantingseedsblog.cdfa.ca.gov\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/plantingseedsblog.cdfa.ca.gov\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/plantingseedsblog.cdfa.ca.gov\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/plantingseedsblog.cdfa.ca.gov\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=988"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/plantingseedsblog.cdfa.ca.gov\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/988\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":989,"href":"https:\/\/plantingseedsblog.cdfa.ca.gov\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/988\/revisions\/989"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/plantingseedsblog.cdfa.ca.gov\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=988"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/plantingseedsblog.cdfa.ca.gov\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=988"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/plantingseedsblog.cdfa.ca.gov\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=988"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}