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<\/a>Inspired by a presentation by James duBois, Driscoll\u2019s senior manager of global environmental impact, I followed up with him to ask a few questions and dig a bit deeper into the company\u2019s water management efforts. Here is what James shared with me.<\/p>\n
Driscoll\u2019s began as a berry grower, but today the company focuses on marketing, research and development, and operates on every continent except Antarctica. How does Driscoll\u2019s business model work and what are the biggest challenges? <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Driscoll\u2019s works with approximately 750 independent growers across nearly two dozen countries, collectively employing over 100,000 people. We research and develop new berry varieties in our test plots and then send those proprietary Driscoll\u2019s varieties to our independent growers to harvest on their own farms. Upon harvesting the berries, the growers bring them back to us packed in the Driscoll\u2019s clamshell. We then ship the blueberries, blackberries, raspberries and strawberries to stores in over 60 countries.<\/p>\n In the last decade, growers have faced more challenges with water and labor shortages, increasing regulation and rising costs. Driscoll\u2019s is providing more support and guidance than ever before to our growers so that all our businesses are successful in the long term.<\/p>\n The Sustainable Groundwater Management Act<\/a> (SGMA) is the most significant water legislation in California in a century. Why was Driscoll\u2019s an early and active supporter of SGMA? <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n The vast majority of the fields where Driscoll\u2019s fruit is grown are irrigated with groundwater. Our business and the communities where we operate in California and beyond are significantly reliant on this resource. We decided that we could not operate in the existing paradigm of long-term resource degradation and uncertainty. It was bad for our business, and it was bad for our communities. We saw SGMA as offering a path toward better resource management, sustainability and certainty for our business.<\/p>\n What does Driscoll\u2019s like about SGMA?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n The spirit of soliciting local stakeholder input and fostering local control are aspects of SGMA that really resonated with Driscoll\u2019s and many of our growers.<\/p>\n In 2009, long before SGMA, Driscoll\u2019s worked in our hometown of Watsonville, California, to establish a community-led forum to address a severe overdraft issue in the Pajaro Valley. One of the flagship projects of the Pajaro Valley Community Water Dialogue was the rollout of an extensive wireless irrigation network. The network required tremendous collaboration and collective investment in infrastructure by growers to monitor their water use, and led to a 30 percent to 40 percent reduction in water consumption among those who used the new technology.\u00a0\u00a0Why Driscoll\u2019s is collaborating with growers and stakeholders to improve water management and increase resilience in California and beyond. <\/a><\/span>Share on X<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n We learned from this experience how important it is to focus on those types of stakeholder engagement processes early and often, and to make sure that stakeholder input is formally taken into consideration, which is why we support SGMA the way that we do. It\u2019s crucial to the staying power of a project, and agencies need to make these engagement processes and settings as approachable as possible. Think more roundtables, fewer podiums.<\/p>\n What advice do you have for individuals or groups looking to get more involved in SGMA?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n I\u2019d suggest that groups and individuals involved in this process take on the tough, more foundational decisions first. For example, supplemental water projects and water trading markets are important, but before creating a market, groundwater managers need to make difficult allocation decisions, as EDF suggested in its recent white paper on groundwater allocations<\/a>.<\/p>\n We saw SGMA as offering a path toward better resource management, sustainability and certainty for our business.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n How is Driscoll\u2019s preparing for SGMA implementation?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n At the field level, we have worked with growers to adopt lower water-use techniques such as micro sprinklers, as well as soil moisture sensor technology to help them water only when it\u2019s needed. We also work with our growers to maximize their use of recycled water whenever and wherever possible. Finally, we\u2019ve worked with growers to better track crop water demands and usage via flow meter installations.<\/p>\n We anticipate the price of water will increase in many areas where we operate as a result of reduced availability and the high cost of new infrastructure and water projects. Landowners and growers will need to closely track water use, and identify and seize opportunities to be more efficient. In some instances, this will mean installing flow meters and reporting water use where previously not required.<\/p>\n<\/a>