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California Agriculture Fact Sheet
California’s farms are an important part of America’s food and fiber network. Our farms are among the most efficient in the world. Learn more about the important role California’s farms play in producing food and fiber for us all with this fact sheet.
Drought Fact Sheet – May 2015 (revised 5-26-15)
In May of 2015, almost 75% of farms had sustained cutbacks of 80% or more in water supplies. Learn more about the 2011-2017 California drought in this Drought Fact Sheet, dated May 26, 2015.
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2011-2017 California Drought
Drought Fact Sheet – April 2015
In April of 2015, farms in California had sustained multiple years of severely restricted water supplies, and went unmentioned in a declaration by Governor Brown requiring mandatory conservation among California’s urban water users. Recognizing the significant efforts by agriculture, Governor Brown rebuked attacks that he hadn’t asked enough from California’s farms and rural communities in a national interview with ABC News. During the interview he recognized the many thousands of acres fallowed, and the threat to rural communities.
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CFWC radio: Water that grows farm products doesn’t stay on the farm
Water that grows farm products doesn’t stay on the farm.
Download the info graph here: https://farmwater.org/wheredoesitgo.pdf
Plants need three things to grow: sunlight, soil…and water. Farmers depend on all three to grow hundreds of different crops right here in California. There’s no shortage of sunlight and soil… but four years of drought has caused deep cuts in the water farmers need to grow our food.
This year almost one in three acres of California’s irrigated farmland will receive no surface water at all. None.
Consumers and farmers alike are feeling the effects of the drought.
That’s important to all of us because farmers grow the food that ends up at the grocery store. Simply put, the water that farmers use to grow our food is water that we all consume in the food we eat.
Getting through the drought won’t be easy and we’re all in it together. California’s farmers are going to be working hard to make the most of the sunlight, soil… and the water they have, to continue producing the fresh California farm products we want for our families.
According to data from the California Department of Water Resources and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, California farmers actually use LESS water than the amount required to meet all of California’s food supply needs.
California drought affects farms and consumers
Farmers and consumers share a unique relationship. The California drought is helping people understand how important it is for farms to have the water they need to grow the food we all find at the grocery store. Serious water supply cuts affect our food supply as well as the people in rural communities who depend on agriculture for their jobs.
Farmers Need This To Grow Our Food
What is it? Water.
Farmers and consumers share a unique relationship. Many of the same sources of water meet the domestic needs of millions of Californians as well as the irrigation needs of the farmers who grow our food. And without California’s local farms, we would have a greater dependence on foreign food sources along with uncertain farm practices that can affect food safety.
California is home to one of only five Mediterranean climates on earth. Our cold, wet winters and hot, dry summers provide perfect growing conditions for over 400 crops. The three things necessary for plant growth are sunshine, soil and water and California has them all. Moving water from the wet, northern part of the state to the dry central and southern regions makes it possible for farmers to grow delicious fresh fruits, nuts, vegetables and many other crops. It would be difficult to grow the abundant produce that goes into a salad if farmers had to depend on just the local, natural rainfall to water their fields. By capturing water in the winter and storing it in a reservoir, we can save it for the summer when farmers use it to grow the fresh food we all find at the grocery store.
California Drought – Food Supply
California is the 4th largest supplier of food to the world and the #1 largest supplier of food to the entire United States.
During the 2014 California Drought farmers don’t always have the water they need to grow the food we buy at the grocery store, but there are proposed solutions on the November ballot.
>>> Learn More
California Drought – Invest
People everywhere need water. Farmers use water to grow the food we buy at the grocery store. But we need to invest in our water supply system to make sure we have enough water today and in the future – for drinking, for cooking and cleaning, and for growing healthy and delicious food.
FAQs About Proposition One
Can we afford it?
How can we be sure the money will be well spent for what’s been promised?
How were the priorities for funding chosen?
Will the interests of rural and Northern California communities be protected?
How does the Delta benefit from Proposition One?
What will Proposition One do to help California prepare for climate change?
Which new dams will be built if Proposition One passes?