California Water News Daily Your Source For Water News in California
As the California drought continues to grow bleak, the Central Valley is seeing the side effects, both in food production and jobs. Vast amounts of farmland is being left untouched at a time when it’s normally plowed and prepared for harvesting. Researchers at UC Davis estimate that 564,000 acres of farmland have been left untouched, meaning fewer crops will be produced.
“Based on estimates of 564,000 idled acres, farm revenue losses are forecast at $1.8 billion, and 8,550 fewer farm jobs because of the drought,” a report by CNBC said.
Because a large sector of the California economy relies on the agricultural industry, more jobs are expected to be lost. Having less crop production leaves fewer food processing and truck hauling jobs.
The report by UC Davis says statewide revenue losses could reach $2.7 billion and a loss of 18,600 jobs could occur.
“Land is incredibly productive,” Daniel A. Sumner, agricultural economist at UC Davis told CNBC. “Nobody leaves land idle unless something really bad happens.”
While the number of jobs and the revenue lost because of the California drought is high, researchers believe their estimates are conservative. In fact, things could actually be far worse than what they estimate. A report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture says 900,000 acres of land aren’t being harvested.
Water has become such a scarce commodity during the California drought that farmers are digging deeper into the soil for ground water. They’re creating wells to pump the water to the ground surface, something that is a common practice during tough drought years.
Tulare County has been hit the hardest by California drought in the Central Valley, to the point where about 1,000 private wells have failed. The lack of groundwater has forced people in rural areas to use buckets to bathe, cook and clean. Those who are fortunate enough to have wells could run out of groundwater any day.
