June 15 2015
Leave it to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to start a firestorm with water - one that is being fanned by nationwide anger, distrust and bitterness. The new "Clean Water Rule" issued May...
June 8 2015
Maybe it is just a coincidence. Or maybe it's not. Years one, two and three of California's continuing historic drought saw new records for low precipitation and high farmer frustration
May 25 2015
Water is the chief building block of life. Without it, crops wither away and civilizations crumble
April 20 2015
Water is the gorilla topic of discussion in California these days, and as supplies keep drying up, just about everyone has an opinion about water use, waste, conservation and government policies. Guess...
April 10 2015
A constant source of problems can sometimes be a faucet or hose
April 6 2015
With snowpack levels at just 5 percent of the historical average for April 1 - the lowest amount for that date since record keeping began in 1950 - the severity of drought has reached a new high
March 27 2015
Spring has barely begun, yet things already look grim. Bad turned to worse for California's drought situation in 2014, which is why, on the first day of spring this year, California's 2015 water situation...
Feb. 6 2015
Record-dry January kicked off what looks to be a fourth straight year. It's raining today in big parts of California. A series of storms began pounding the northern half of the state earlier this week...
Nov. 10 2014
As a parched postscript to a third straight year of drought, farmers in California's San Joaquin Valley who hold senior water rights are suing the state for deliveries they didn't receive in 2014, in hopes...
Sept. 26 2014
The days of "survival of the deepest" farm wells are heading for extinction in California. Earlier this month, Governor Jerry Brown signed historic legislation requiring local water agencies to set up...
Aug. 18 2014
In California's third year of historic drought, the price of water on the open market is being pushed to staggering levels that scream what a bargain farmers have enjoyed forever. It also raises the question...
Aug. 11 2014
It's unfortunate that the picture of an irrigation system shown with the August 4 article "Could city voters dictate farm water use?" illustrates one of the most wasteful ways of irrigating that exists....
Aug. 4 2014
It's sadly ironic to say that public frustration with California's epic drought is a fluid situation. Mandatory water use cutbacks, brown lawns, "water cops" who fine violators, rapidly drying reservoirs...
July 7 2014
A third year of drought with no end in sight, household wells going dry, and suburban water shortages are turning public sentiment against farmers in the country's biggest agricultural state. Hot and dry...
June 30 2014
"There is no doubt the California drought is adding cost to buying feed," Robert Chesler told those attending the 11th annual INTL FCStone Dairy Outlook Conference. "However, first-cutting alfalfa had...
June 2 2014
Less food, less jobs and $1.7 billion in agricultural losses are preliminary projections of the damage that will be done by the epic ongoing drought in the nation's largest agricultural state, according...
June 2 2014
When water stops flowing, disaster ensues. Seven states, all with major agricultural sectors, are running out of water. Three of these, California, Texas and New Mexico, are top 10 milk production states....
May 9 2014
When it rained, it didn't pour in California last year. As a result, the California Department of Water Resources (CDWR) has officially declared 2013 the driest year since records began being kept in 1895
May 5 2014
I won't be Chicken Little and shout, "the sky is falling!" but California's agricultural horizon is definitely a long way from being filled with sunshine and butterflies
April 28 2014
Results have been announced for an auction held recently in Bakersfield, Calif., for surplus water supplies held by a small water district. The average price per acre-foot was eye-opening, and could affect...