The California farm water crisis is a multifaceted problem driven by climate change, reduced rainfall, and a high demand for water that exceeds supply. This has led to significant consequences, including the fallowing of hundreds of thousands of acres of farmland, substantial economic losses for farmers, job cuts, and reduced consumer access to fresh produce. Farmers […]
In the heart of California’s Central Valley, generations of farm families are facing a new kind of crisis: what farmers argue is a man-made drought. It’s mounting water regulations that could determine whether the most fertile farmland in the nation survives. On Hansen Ranch in the Central Valley, fifth-generation farmer Erik Hansen grows a little […]
Drought can reduce both water availability and water quality necessary for productive farms, ranches, and grazing lands, resulting in significant negative direct and indirect economic impacts to the agricultural sector. Drought can also contribute to insect outbreaks, increases in wildfire and altered rates of carbon, nutrient, and water cycling—all of which can impact agricultural production, […]