Tag Archive for: Agriculture

EPA Unveils Strategy to Regulate Toxic ‘Forever Chemicals’

/in , /by /AP Newsby Matthew Daly

The Defense Department said it is moving to assess and clean up PFAS-contaminated sites throughout the country, while the Food and Drug Administration will expand testing of the food supply to estimate Americans’ exposure to PFAS from food. And the Agriculture Department will boost efforts to prevent and address PFAS contamination in food.

The plan is intended to restrict PFAS from being released into the environment, accelerate cleanup of PFAS-contaminated sites such as military bases and increase investments in research to learn more about where PFAS are found and how their spread can be prevented.

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Q&A: La Niña’s Back and It’s Not Good for Parts of Dry West

/in , , /by /AP Newsby Seth Borenstein

For the second straight year, the world heads into a new La Niña weather event. This would tend to dry out parts of an already parched and fiery American West and boost an already busy Atlantic hurricane season.

Just five months after the end of a La Niña that started in September 2020, the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced a new cooling of the Pacific is underway.

 

La Niña Arrives, Threatening to Stoke Droughts and Roil Markets

/in , , /by /Bloombergby Brian K Sullivan

A weather-roiling La Niña appears to have emerged across the equatorial Pacific, setting the stage for worsening droughts in California and South America, frigid winters in parts of the U.S. and Japan and greater risks for the world’s already strained energy and food supplies.

The phenomenon—which begins when the atmosphere reacts to a cooler patch of water over the Pacific Ocean—will likely last through at least February, the U.S. Climate Prediction Center said Thursday. There is a 57% chance it be a moderate event, like the one that started last year, the center said.

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As Drought Worsens, California Farmers Are Being Paid Not to Grow Crops

/in , , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Ian James

Green fields of alfalfa and cotton rolled past as Brad Robinson drove through the desert valley where his family has farmed with water from the Colorado River for three generations. Stopping the truck, he stepped onto a dry, brown field where shriveled remnants of alfalfa crunched under his boots.

The water has been temporarily shut off on a portion of Robinson’s land. In exchange, he’s receiving $909 this year for each acre of farmland left dry and unplanted. The water is instead staying in Lake Mead, near Las Vegas, to help slow the unrelenting decline of the largest reservoir in the country.

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New Protections for California’s Aquifers Are Reshaping the State’s Central Valley

/in , , /by /NPRby Dan Charles

California’s agricultural empire is facing a shakeup, as a state law comes into effect that will limit many farmers’ access to water.

The seven-year-old law is supposed to stop the over-pumping from depleted aquifers, and some farmers — the largest users of that water — concede the limits are overdue.

 

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Ramona Farmers, Winery Owners Weather Dry Years with Water Conservation Strategies

/in , , /by /Ramona Sentinelby Julie Gallant Quoted: San Diego County Water Authority

Farmers and winery owners in Ramona and other parts of San Diego County are weathering the drought better than their counterparts in Northern California and the Central Valley through a mix of smart water use strategies, adequate water supplies and resources such as free irrigation system evaluations, according to water experts.

One reason local agricultural water users have avoided shortfalls in water supplies is because residents and businesses have been reducing the amount of water they use per person over the last 30 years, said Jeff Stephenson, water resources manager for the San Diego County Water Authority.

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Water Is Scarce in California. But Farmers Have Found Ways to Store It Underground

/in , , /by /NPRby Dan Charles

Aaron Fukuda admits that the 15-acre sunken field behind his office doesn’t look like much.

It’s basically a big, wide hole in the ground behind the headquarters of the Tulare Irrigation District, in the southern part of California’s fertile Central Valley. But “for a water resources nerd like myself, it’s a sexy, sexy piece of infrastructure,” says Fukuda, the district’s general manager.

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Opinion: What if Farmers Really Could Use 50% Less Water? Arizona Would Be a Different Place

/in , /by /AZ Centralby Joanna Allhands

What if farmers could use half the water than they are now without sacrificing crop yield?

Arizona would be a different place.

There are roughly 946,000 acres of farmland in the state, according to the most recent federal farm census in 2018, using an estimated 4.4 million acre-feet of water.

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Calif. Regulators Buckle Up for the Potential of 0% Water Allocation for 2022

/in , , /by /The San Joaquin Valley Sunby The San Joaquin Valley Sun Staff

California’s reservoirs are so dry from a historic drought that regulators warned Thursday it’s possible the state’s water agencies won’t get anything from them next year, a frightening possibility that could force mandatory restrictions for residents. This year, unusually hot, dry conditions caused nearly 80% of that water to either evaporate or be absorbed into the parched soil — part of a larger drought that has emptied reservoirs and led to cuts for farmers across the western United States. It caught sate officials by surprise as California now enters the rainy season with reservoirs at their lowest level ever.

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The Colorado River is in Crisis. The Walton Family is Pushing a Solution.

/in , , /by /The Wall Street Journalby Scott Patterson

The first-ever official shortage on the Colorado River has intensified a debate over how to provide water for 40 million people across the Southwest and irrigate fields of thirsty crops like wheat, cotton and alfalfa. Few voices outside government are more influential than that of the Walton family, billionaire heirs to the Walmart Inc. fortune, who have long advocated water markets as a key part to solving the region’s woes. But some environmental groups say the Waltons drown out other, nonmarket approaches.

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