Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Community of Oregon
Kern County Water Agency
North Kern Water Storage District
Friant Water Users Authority

SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY AGRICULTURE INDUSTRY:
San Joaquin Valley Agricultural Industry Retains NEA for Drought Impact Studies

"We used the NEA studies extensively in our meetings with federal, state, and local legislators and the media and the general public, to demonstrate how critically the drought was affecting San Joaquin Valley agriculture and the entire regional economy. The reports are well written, easy to understand, and devoid of analytical mumbo-jumbo which makes many people skeptical of this type of evaluation. The reports continue to be requested and quoted because of their real-world focus and results."

Brent Graham, Manager
Tulare Lake Basin Water Storage District and
Secretary, San Joaquin Valley Agricultural Water Committee

Project Highlights
The San Joaquin Valley Agricultural Water Committee retained NEA to analyze the economic impacts of drought and regulatory reductions in surface water supplies on agriculture, agribusiness, and the regional economy of California’s San Joaquin Valley. NEA surveyed the more than 120 water agency members of the Committee, several dozen farmers, and numerous input suppliers and lenders to learn the primary effects of drought and how these parties responded. NEA found that the effects on San Joaquin Valley agriculture were much greater than other researchers’ estimates, which had been developed using large-scale models and anecdotal information. In 1991, total irrigation water usage fell 800,000 acre-feet (AF), a six percent decline from normal. However, surface water supplies were 57 percent lower, while groundwater supplies were 127 percent higher. On-farm water costs rose $163 million. Some 253,000 acres of cropland were idled and another 125,000 acres suffered from reduced yields. On-farm revenue losses were $281 million. Reduced sales of farm machinery, fertilizer, and other inputs caused an additional $264 million loss in regional economic activity. On-farm and off-farm income losses totaled $200 million.

In 1992, the sixth consecutive year of drought, surface water deliveries were 53 percent below normal, while use of groundwater supplies was 152 percent above normal. Because of higher water and energy prices, on-farm water costs rose by $259 million. Another 172,000 acres of cropland were not farmed or abandoned and an additional 33,000 acres suffered from reduced yields. On-farm revenues losses totaled $157 million and regional business revenues fell an additional $145 million.

The water shortages were a harbinger of long-term water supply reductions caused by both regulatory-based restrictions for environmental purposes and hydrologic drought. Regulatory restrictions have been evident in the several "wet" years since the mid-1990s, in which agricultural water supplies have continued to be reduced. The impacts have been particularly noticeable in the many small San Joaquin Valley communities in which farming is the primary or only employer. Unemployment rates in many of these towns have remained at more than double their respective pre-drought levels.

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