California Farmers Praised in Article

Scientific American has published a story on how over pumping threatens to deplete the U.S. High Plains groundwater aquifer. In the story, the writer Erin Brodwin mentions Central California agriculture and how farmers are conserving water. The following is a quick comment on the story from the California Farm Water Coalition in Sacramento

It is important to note that San Joaquin Valley farmers, contrary to statements made in this article, do not use water from the Colorado River basin to irrigate their crops.

The article is correct, however, in describing the enormous increase in water use efficiency achieved by San Joaquin Valley farmers. Since 2003 more than $2.1 billion has been invested in upgrading irrigation systems on more than 1.8 million acres. One of the results of that kind of investment is that crop production has increased more than 89 percent on about the same amount of applied water per acre in years past.