A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
September 10, 2008
2. Supply –
New ideas for saving ag water: Tax exemptions for irrigation equipment is one of several proposals.
The
Report: Farmers could conserve more water
The Bakersfield
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New ideas for saving ag water: Tax exemptions for irrigation equipment is one of several proposals.
The
By Dennis Pollock
Farmers in the hard-hit Westlands Water District have shelled out an estimated $500 million on water-saving measures in the past decade.
But more can be done, said one of the authors of a report issued this week that touts water-saving alternatives to building reservoirs.
"We acknowledge there have been significant developments in efficiency, and we looked at accelerating that trend," said Heather Cooley, who helped draft the report by the Oakland-based Pacific Institute.
The institute came out with a laundry list of steps that would require significant policy changes and could cost farmers and government agencies millions more. They include:
*Provide sales tax exemptions or rebates on efficient irrigation equipment.
*Provide property tax exemptions for farmers who upgrade to more water-efficient irrigation systems.
*Develop new legal mechanisms by which municipal water or state or local wildlife agencies could invest in farmers' irrigation systems in exchange for some portion of the water conserved.
*State and federal government agencies or energy providers would offer rebates or incentives to farmers who implement on-farm conservation measures.
*Reduce or realign subsidies for low-value, water-intensive crops to higher-value, less water-intensive crops.
*Make agricultural "efficient water-management practices" mandatory and enforceable by the state Water Resources Control Board.
The list is lengthy, and Cooley said the institute will issue a report early next year "looking closer at the costs for those recommendations."
Some of the recommendations -- including use of more drip irrigation or micro-irrigation -- can improve productivity and increase the return on investment, Cooley said.
Farmers on the central San Joaquin Valley's west side say they already have made considerable strides toward saving water, notably switching in recent years from furrow or flood irrigation to drip irrigation that puts the water only where it will benefit the crop.
And they say they have gone about as far as they can in that regard and the notion of "conserving their way out of a drought" is flawed.
"If that were the case, they would already have done it," says Fresno County grower John Diener, who has become something of a poster figure for saving water on the farm, working for about a decade with local, state and federal researchers on an irrigation system that captures and reuses irrigation water.
Farm leaders were quick to respond to the report.
"Farmers will continue to increase water use efficiency," said Jasper Hempel, executive vice president of Western Growers in
"But increased water-use efficiency is not a substitute for the needed improvements in water storage or conveyance."
California Farm Bureau Federation President Doug Mosebar said that while "improved efficiency of water use will certainly be a key in meeting
California Secretary of Agriculture A.G. Kawamura said agriculture "is doing its part" to address the water crisis.
"Over the last four decades, the amount of water used on
Stuart Woolf, who heads Woolf Farming Co. in Huron, told a congressional subcommittee that his father often jokes, "We work the water so hard it has blisters."#
http://www.fresnobee.com/business/story/855954.html
Report: Farmers could conserve more water
The Bakersfield
The study is one of the first to explore how better water conservation on farms could help address statewide shortages.
In response, farmers say they’re already doing their part, noting the amount of water used by the state’s farms is almost the same as 40 years ago, yet crops over that period have increased 89 percent.
“Farmers are increasing their efficiency all the time,” said California Farm Bureau Federation spokesman Dan Kranz. "Certainly given our current circumstances it’s an increasing concern, but improved efficiency is just one key element along with recycled water and water storage and many other strategies.”
The report’s lead author, Heather Cooley, agreed conservation is not a “silver bullet.” New dams and storage may be needed at some point. But decision-makers should know what low-cost solutions are available before spending billions on costly water-infrastructure, she said.
“The water savings from these exercises are far cheaper than any reservoir we can build and have fewer social and environmental impacts,” Cooley said.
In response to a statewide drought and court-ordered reductions in water exports from the imperiled Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, lawmakers are now considering a $9.3 billion proposal by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein to build new dams, reservoirs and possibly a peripheral canal.
Jim Beck, general manager of the Kern County Water Agency, which contracts for Delta water on behalf of local water districts, thinks the study should have taken a broader look at causes of the water shortages.
“I think it unfairly targeted agriculture as the single solution for the state’s water woes,” he said.
Cooley said the Institute had previously studied urban water conservation, finding that water use could be reduced by one-third with widely available technologies. Given that farms use 80 percent of the state’s developed water supplies, “we suspected there were some large savings available there as well.”
She added: “We were also struck by the fact that no one had done a real assessment” of farm water use.
Overall, the study found farmers could reduce water usage by 13 percent. That equals a water savings of up to 3.4 million acre-feet each year — enough water to fill
To do so, the report recommends switching about 25 percent of water-intensive field crops grown in the state — such as cotton, rice, corn and alfalfa — to vegetables, which use less water and bring in more revenue.
It encourages farmers to use newer technology — weather data, soil monitors and computer models — to schedule precisely when and how much water to apply to crops rather than relying on visual inspection.
Farmers should also move away from flood irrigation by investing in drip irrigation systems and sprinklers.
While some of the recommendations require up-front costs to farmers, the study found that the strategies were cost-effective overall when you consider water savings, improved yields and other factors.
Planting crops that require less water seems obvious, but that oversimplifies the reality of agricultural economics, said retired grower William Bolthouse Jr., whose family founded William Bolthouse Farms.
“If you grew all cactus, I’m sure you could save some water, but it’s not economically feasible," he said. “Supply and demand dictates what people grow. We used to grow a lot of cotton, but demand dried up so people quit.”
Bolthouse said he’d prefer to see available water sources managed better.
The California Department of Food and Agriculture estimates drought-related crop losses as of this month are $259.8 million, up $14.5 million from July. Rangeland took the hardest hit, followed by cotton.
http://www.bakersfield.com/102/story/547703.html
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