drought
2023: The year in review
To specialty crop growers, and farmers in general, 2023’s big news in the industry wasn’t totally unforeseen: lack of labor is still an issue, severe weather damaged crops and technology continues to advance automation in... more »
Water, farm bill drive California food, ag summit
The outlook for California’s agricultural economy shows some signs of improvement after several years of supply-chain constraints, high input costs and a multiyear drought that forced farmers to fallow acres and remove orchards. The June... more »
Water access essential to Michigan’s fruit industry
The letter said the irrigation well permit application was denied because water wasn’t available. I shook my head and looked at my Fitbit. Yep, it was 2023. I was in Michigan and not in western... more »
California winegrape crop smallest since 2011
California winegrape growers last year harvested the smallest crop of any year within the past decade, according to the California Department of Food and Agriculture’s Preliminary Grape Crush Report, an annual benchmark for the winegrape... more »
California report puts drought losses in the billions
Losses to California’s ag industry this year have topped $1 billion as the state’s drought stretched into a third straight year, according to a report from the University of California-Merced’s School of Engineering and the Public Policy Institute... more »
Data a key factor in addressing the West’s water shortage
Like many other researchers, University of California-Merced environmental engineering professors Erin Hestir and Joshua Viers are trying to quantify water use in California’s Central Valley. The difference is, they are doing it from the sky. Through NASA's applied sciences program, their... more »
Grafting watermelons could boost yields for California growers
As growers across California navigate severe drought, supply-chain challenges and rising inflation, reducing inputs has become an existential necessity. And for watermelon growers, a new twist on a thousands-year-old practice is showing real promise. In... more »
Drought hits Northern California growers hard
As California toils through a third consecutive drought year, many Sacramento Valley farmers, well known for supporting waterfowl that stop along the Pacific Flyway, are being left high and dry. The farmers are facing water-supply... more »
Drought impacting Georgia farmers
Georgia farmers are experiencing one of the worst droughts in recent memory, and University of Georgia climatologist Pam Knox cautions that there could be a potential repeat next year. “I’m thinking about April 1 of... more »
UC Davis releases estimates of irrigated cropland idled due to drought
On August 15, a team from UC Davis, ERA Economics and the UC Agricultural Issues Center released an economic impact report related to the California drought of 2016. Several commentaries have indicated that land fallowing... more »
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