How Does the California Drought Affect Crop Size?

Farmers in California have done so much to protect our state and the crops that grow in it

from this ongoing drought. Whether they are abandoning fields or simply using less water, they

need our help in conserving water so we, along with 90% of America, will have food on our

plates in the years to come. Almost everyone in California knows that were in a drought; but

what they dont know that this drought is affecting the production size of crops. This drought

became a major issue in early 2014 and ever since then, most farmers in California have been

trying to farm their crops as normal, and have failed. The current drought has forced farmers in

Californias Central Valley to minimize the size of their crops and the amount of crops that they

produce, this has had a negative impact on the states economy, not to mention the impact on

farmers and their livelihood.

The Sacramento Bee reported that farmers in rural California are expected to feel the

effect as an estimated 420,000 acres (170,000 hectares) of farmland, or about 5 percent of the

total, has gone unplanted this year, according to the newspaper. This means that 5 percent of the

total planned crop was not planted. Mike Wade of the California Farm Water Coalition, a

Sacramento-based advocacy group, said another dry year is not going to be good for our state.

"Nobody has any idea how disastrous it's going to be," Wade said. "Is it going to create more

fallowed land? Absolutely. Is it going to create more groundwater problems? Absolutely." This

means that the groundwater in California is slowly drying up. More and more well owners are
having to extend their well lower into the ground so they don't run out of water and it is taking a

toll on our farming soil. Economists at the University of California, Davis said that agriculture,

once a $44 billion annual business in California, will suffer a financial hit of $2.2 billion due to

revenue losses and higher water costs. This means, that due to the lack of water, we won't be

able to grow as many crops, thus making agriculturists across the state lose around $2.2 billion

as a whole.

Farmers all around California have been trying to come up with ways to reduce cost

damage and conserve water. They have adopted more efficient water management technologies

and practices, such as drip irrigation, and switching from lower to higher-value crops helping

boost revenue within the limits of available water. Since they are able to produce higher-valued

crops with less water, they are making up for the monetary losses that they have seen throughout

these past couple of years. Many farmers are trying dry farming. California dry farmers dont

irrigate, relying on soil moisture to produce their crops during the dry season. Special tilling

practices and careful attention to microclimates are essential. Dry farming tends to enhance

flavors, but produces lower yields than irrigated crops. So, if the whole state adopts dry farming,

then we will have less crops, but we will also use less water.

Most farmers are resulting to many different ways of irrigating to conserve water. Some

different ways of irrigating are drip irrigation, capturing and storing water, irrigation scheduling,
farming drought-tolerant crops, dry farming, rotational grazing and going organic. Drip irrigation

systems deliver water directly to a plants roots, reducing the evaporation that happens with

spray watering systems. Timers can be used to schedule watering for the cooler parts of the day,

further reducing water loss. A lot of farmers rely on groundwater as capture storage while others

capture their own water and use it to irrigate their crops. Some farmers are using timers to

schedule their irrigating while others are simply just resulting to farming crops that flourish well

in droughts such as olives, Armenian cucumbers, tepary beans, and orach. California dry farmers

dont irrigate, relying on soil moisture to produce their crops during the dry season. Special

tilling practices and careful attention to microclimates are essential. Dry farming tends to

enhance flavors, but produces lower yields than irrigated crops.

So, in conclusion, the drought in California has has a massive effect on the production

and yield of our crops. A lot of farmers have resulted to dry farming, drip system irrigation or

organic farming to conserve water and protect their crops. The drought in Californias central

valley has taken a toll on the size of our crops and the amount that are produced. Farmers in

california have done so much to protect our state and the crops that grow in it. Whether they are

abandoning fields or simply using less water, they need our help in conserving water so we,

along with 90% of America, will have food on our plates in the years to come.