{"id":6302,"date":"2016-05-23T12:16:06","date_gmt":"2016-05-23T16:16:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/growingreturns\/?p=6302"},"modified":"2025-06-11T12:27:29","modified_gmt":"2025-06-11T16:27:29","slug":"despite-drought-california-agriculture-is-doing-well-but-there-are-hidden-costs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/growingreturns\/2016\/05\/23\/despite-drought-california-agriculture-is-doing-well-but-there-are-hidden-costs\/","title":{"rendered":"Despite drought, California agriculture is doing well. But there are hidden costs."},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Water<\/a>
Photo credit: Henrik Johansson<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

According to a new World Bank report<\/a>, regions around the world could gain or lose up to 6 percent of their GDP by 2050 depending on how they manage for climate-driven water scarcity.<\/p>\n

I was curious about how the report\u2019s findings might apply to California, where I live.<\/p>\n

Here in the Golden State, water scarcity is a familiar threat. And while the World Bank found that climate-water costs to North American GDP should be minimal, many Californians have suffered acutely from sustained drought.<\/p>\n

In some cases, however, it isn\u2019t entirely clear what the impacts of water scarcity have been.<\/p>\n

More farm jobs<\/strong><\/p>\n

According to the state Employment Development Department<\/a>, farm jobs in California grew by 30,000 in 2015, the fourth year of the state\u2019s historic drought. The same year, nearly half a million acres of farmland were idled<\/a> because of a lack of water to grow crops.<\/p>\n

How is California\u2019s agricultural industry actually doing?<\/p>\n

Economist Chris Thornberg<\/a> says: Just fine. Citing the lack of farm bankruptcies, increasing land value and the bump in farm employment, he says that agriculture has been using water on low-value crops like hay that barely affect the industry\u2019s bottom line when taken out of production. His implication: Why not just concentrate water use on higher-value crops?<\/p>\n

Similarly, the World Bank report finds that allocating 25 percent of the world\u2019s water to higher value uses significantly reduces global GDP losses associated with climate stress and even increases growth.<\/p>\n

This view oversimplifies things.<\/p>\n

\"Tapped<\/a>Hidden costs <\/strong><\/p>\n

Tree and vine crops like nuts and grapes are<\/em> generating higher revenues for farmers \u2013 prices are up. Because these permanent crops require more labor than field crops like hay, new jobs are created.<\/p>\n

But the proliferation<\/a> of perennial crops has hidden, underground costs.<\/p>\n

Economist Vernon Crowder asserts that the apparent resilience of California\u2019s agriculture is due in part to farmers\u2019 ability to tap aquifers to make up for cuts in surface water supplies and support the year-round water needs of these crops. The state has drawn heavily on this historically plentiful savings account during the drought. Doing so has seriously harmed many of California\u2019s disadvantaged communities and ecosystems, as well as increased costs to farmers.<\/p>\n

The right steps towards resiliency<\/strong><\/p>\n

We\u2019ve written before<\/a> about how the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act will eventually arrest\u00a0harmful groundwater overdrafts. UC Davis researchers put<\/a> the cost of doing so in the Central Valley at $50 million a year or more. Not cheap, but the price we pay will only grow if we don\u2019t act quickly and strategically.<\/p>\n

Water markets, which allow water users to buy, sell and trade water with each other, can lower the costs of ending groundwater overdraft and help make the most of the water that is available.<\/p>\n

At present though, it\u2019s hard to find water to buy and often even harder to actually move it due to institutional roadblocks associated with its transfer. EDF\u2019s recent white paper<\/a> explains the why and how of designing effective markets that improve water supply reliability while enhancing and protecting environmental and community resources, including the farms and ranches that grow our food and employ an increasing number of Californians.<\/p>\n

I applaud Assemblymember Marc Levine, who has introduced a bill (AB 2304<\/a>) that would help create the change we need to achieve this vision.<\/p>\n

Looking forward<\/strong><\/p>\n

While California agriculture has managed its way through the drought, the challenges that lie ahead will be significant. Thankfully, there are great opportunities as well.<\/p>\n

Working together and managing our water resources holistically can maximize benefit across sectors. For example, a crop mosaic can simultaneously help provide important habitat and species benefits<\/a> and greenhouse gas emission offsets<\/a>.<\/p>\n

With the right incentives for sustainable groundwater management and a well-functioning water market, we can keep our environment, communities and agricultural economies from being left high and dry.<\/p>\n

Related:<\/em><\/p>\n

These reforms can unclog California\u2019s water market and help the environment >><\/a><\/p>\n

From Mexico City to San Francisco: A multi-national perspective on water management >><\/a><\/p>\n

How \u201cfertigation\u201d is helping this citrus grower beat the drought >><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

According to a new World Bank report, regions around the world could gain or lose up to 6 percent of their GDP by 2050 depending on how they manage for climate-driven water scarcity. I was curious about how the report\u2019s findings might apply to California, where I live. Here in the Golden State, water scarcity …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":85401,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[120554,71922],"tags":[234,200,71775,84754,152,84847,190,630,383,42756,33,691,71931,10172,92490,5103,71925,84831,71929,84845,84809],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-6302","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-agriculture","category-water","tag-agriculture-tag","tag-california","tag-central-valley","tag-climate-tag","tag-climate-change","tag-climate-water-nexus","tag-drought","tag-economy","tag-environmental-defense-fund","tag-farmers","tag-global-warming","tag-groundwater","tag-groundwater-management","tag-job-creation","tag-resilience","tag-resiliency","tag-sustainable-groundwater-management-act","tag-water-management","tag-water-market","tag-water-scarcity","tag-water-use"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/growingreturns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6302","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/growingreturns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/growingreturns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/growingreturns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/85401"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/growingreturns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6302"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/growingreturns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6302\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15724,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/growingreturns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6302\/revisions\/15724"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/growingreturns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6302"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/growingreturns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6302"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/growingreturns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6302"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/growingreturns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=6302"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}