If you weren’t able to join us at the 2014 World Ag Expo and help us celebrate the kick-off to Toro’s Centennial year, here is a video of our Vice President of Worldwide Micro-Irrigation, Mike Drazan, addressing local media on the rare milestone of 100 years in business. Mike also discusses Toro’s history in the agricultural industry and announces some new drip irrigation products.
Continue readingWith no end in sight to California’s record drought, state leaders are right to focus most of the $687 million relief package they announced Wednesday on longer-term efforts to conserve and recycle water.
But if we’re really all in this together, leaders must pay far more attention to the biggest user — agriculture, which takes anywhere from 62% to 75% of available water in a given year, depending on how that consumption is measured.
As The Sacramento Bee’s Matt Weiser reported on Sunday, while more farmers are using drip irrigation, which is far more efficient than flooding fields, many are stuck in the old ways. And while urban water systems must reduce per capita water use 20% by 2020 or risk losing state money, state law does not put the agricultural sector under similar conservation requirements.
Continue readingCalifornia’s drought could prove devastating to the state’s farmers and ranchers. But the dry spell has brought a gusher of new business to companies that provide them with water.
That much was clear at this year’s World Ag Expo, which kicked off Tuesday in Tulare, a town of 60,000 about 45 miles south of Fresno. At one booth was a well repair company that had to add extra shifts to meet all the agricultural demand for groundwater. Nearby, a firm that provides turbine pumps for wells said orders were coming in so furiously it was running out of parts. And several feet away, a drip irrigation maker said it was taking orders from farmers months ahead of schedule as the prospect of enough rain over the winter appeared remote.
The World Ag Expo is the largest farm equipment show in the world — a three-day extravaganza of high-tech tractors, automated dairy milkers and mechanized tree harvesters on 2.6 million square feet of fertile Central California soil.
But this year, the annual event is also a window into the frantic struggle taking place to keep the world supplied with fruit, nuts and vegetables from the Golden State. Amid what could be one of the worst droughts in California’s recorded history, growers are relying on a host of companies to help them deliver what water remains to their fields.
Continue readingAmid California’s driest year on record, the nation’s leading agricultural region is locked in drought and bracing for unemployment to soar, sending farm workers to food lines in a place famous for its abundance.
One-third of the Central Valley’s jobs are related to farming. Strains on water supplies are expected to force farmers to leave fields unplanted, creating a ripple effect on food processing plant workers, truck drivers and those who sell fertilizer, irrigation equipment and tractors.
Continue readingCalifornia water officials turned off the tap Friday, saying the winter drought forced them to cancel water deliveries to the entire state.
The Department of Water Resources said in Sacramento none of the water from the State Water Project earmarked for individual water agencies would be delivered as previously agreed to.
“The harsh weather leaves us little choice,” DWR Director Mark Cowin said. “If we are to have any hope of coping with continued dry weather and balancing multiple needs, we must act now to preserve what water remains in our reservoirs.”
The State Water Project is the infrastructure agency that parcels out the water that comes mainly from winter rains and snowfall to water agencies serving cities and agricultural areas. Because precipitation has been rare this winter, there is virtually no hope supplies for the dry summer will be adequate.
Continue readingThe U.S. Water Alliance will announce the 2014 winners of the esteemed U.S. Water Prize on Thursday, January 23, at the 52nd annual California Irrigation Institute (CII) conference in Sacramento addressing water and energy use. Alliance President Ben Grumbles will announce the winners in his keynote directed to the audience of agricultural, urban and environmental water experts.
“Given the urgent and critical challenges California faces due to drought, there couldn’t be a better place to announce and celebrate U.S. Water Prize winners,” explains Grumbles. “America’s future looks bright blue with these shining water stars. Our 2014 winners are leading the way by reducing water waste, reusing water resources, and rethinking watershed strategies and technologies.”
Continue readingWith California facing water shortfalls in the driest year in recorded state history, Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. today proclaimed a State of Emergency and directed state officials to take all necessary actions to prepare for these drought conditions.
“We can’t make it rain, but we can be much better prepared for the terrible consequences that California’s drought now threatens, including dramatically less water for our farms and communities and increased fires in both urban and rural areas,” said Governor Brown. “I’ve declared this emergency and I’m calling all Californians to conserve water in every way possible.”
In the State of Emergency declaration, Governor Brown directed state officials to assist farmers and communities that are economically impacted by dry conditions and to ensure the state can respond if Californians face drinking water shortages. The governor also directed state agencies to use less water and hire more firefighters and initiated a greatly expanded water conservation public awareness campaign.
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Water professionals from around the state are preparing to meet in Sacramento to discuss the future of efficient water and energy use in California, but many are now focusing on an immediate future threatened by drought.
As a result, California Irrigation Institute conference organizers have secured recently appointed Deputy Drought Manager Jeanine Jones to provide an update during Friday’s luncheon regarding what the state of California intends to do. This bonus presentation has become a draw for many registering attendees at the 52nd annual conference of agricultural, urban and environmental water experts.
Continue readingWater prices, water rights, drip irrigation, and last year’s dry winter are common topics of conversation for California growers. All have a common thread – the days of cheap limitless water supplies in California are fast approaching their end, and in districts further south in the Central Valley, are already here.
The folks at Campbell Soup know this. Which is why the company set goals last year to reduce water and fertilizer use by 20 percent per pound of tomatoes by 2020. This is on top of a 50 percent water reduction goal for its manufacturing plants.
One especially promising strategy is replacing sprinklers or furrow irrigation with drip irrigation. Though it costs about $1,000 per acre to install the drip system underground, the benefits are obvious. In addition to cutting water use by roughly 10 percent, it saves on fertilizer and helps farmers boost their tomato yields.
Continue readingUSDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) Chief Jason Weller toured local farmland in Los Banos, California that is benefiting from a federal partnership between NRCS and the U.S. Department of Interior Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) to protect the Bay-Delta Watershed. Approximately $6 million was invested by the two agencies, from 2011 – 2013, to upgrade irrigation water delivery infrastructure and on-farm irrigation equipment to conserve water for San Luis Canal Company farmers.
“Water is the lifeblood of agriculture and the environment,” said Cannon Michael, a local farmer. “Farmers have a duty to be good stewards of our resources and conservation is a key element of good stewardship. Improved water use efficiency and reduced runoff benefits farmers and the environment. Our partnership with NRCS has yielded very positive results and their programs encourage conservation on a large scale.”
Weller toured Michael’s new drip irrigation system, funded by NRCS, and nearby infrastructure improvements funded by Reclamation.
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California cotton growers and water-starved fields could benefit from a conservation tillage practice not typical to this Golden State cash crop, although the practice is widely implemented and accepted elsewhere in the United States.
At Lucero Farms in Firebaugh, Calif., the decision this spring to implement no-till practices on cotton planted in western Fresno County seems a good one given a 20-percent water allocation via the State Water Project.
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