Kern County Archives

Farmland Consolidations Could Save Water, Promote Solar

November 30, 2020/in California and the U.S., Home Headline, Media Coverage /by Chelsea Campos /Bakersfield.comby John Cox

Hopes are rising in the southern Central Valley that the farmland expected to be fallowed in coming years because of drought and groundwater restrictions won’t sit idle but will instead be consolidated to make room for new land uses including solar power generation. Efforts are underway locally to create a system for piecing together parcels that would allow investment at a scale large enough to support substantial photovoltaic solar arrays — or ranching or creation of natural habitat, whatever makes sense financially for landowners.

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Kern Farmers Tapped for $14 million to Study Delta Tunnel

November 19, 2020/in California and the U.S., Home Headline, Media Coverage /by Mike Lee /SJV Water (San Joaquin Valley)by Lois Henry

Kern County farmers on Wednesday agreed to chip in $14 million over the next two years to kick off another attempt to move water through the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta via tunnel.

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Groundwater: Desert Valley Plan Could Price Farms Out of Business

October 21, 2020/in California and the U.S., Home Headline, Media Coverage /by Chelsea Campos /Ag Alertby Christine Souza

As local groundwater agencies throughout California consider how to implement the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act, two lawsuits against a Kern County groundwater sustainability agency show the potential implications for agriculture and other businesses with historic, overlying water rights. The cases involve the Indian Wells Valley Groundwater Authority, a groundwater sustainability agency overseeing a critically overdrafted aquifer that covers part of eastern Kern County and parts of Inyo and San Bernardino counties.

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In a Dry State, Farmers Use Oil Wastewater to Irrigate Their Fields, but is it Safe?

September 16, 2020/in California and the U.S., Home Headline, Media Coverage /by Chelsea Campos /Inside Climate Newsby Abby Weiss

For decades, farmers in California’s Kern County have turned to wastewater from oil production to help irrigate their crops during extended dry spells. The wastewater provides an alternative to groundwater, which has become increasingly scarce as farmers have pumped more than they could replenish.

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Proposed $171 Million Central Valley Groundwater Bank Faces TCP Contamination

September 9, 2020/in California and the U.S., Home Headline, Media Coverage /by Chelsea Campos /SJV Waterby Lois Henry

A Kern County groundwater bank proposal just at the starting blocks has been hit with 1,2,3-TCP contamination. Irvine Ranch Water District and Rosedale-Rio Bravo Water Storage District had just begun the environmental review process for their joint banking project this past April when TCP reared its head.

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California Assembly Kills Friant-Kern Canal Funding Bill

August 25, 2020/in California and the U.S., Media Coverage /by Kimberlyn Velasquez /The Sun (Central Valley)by Daniel Gligich

A bill that would have provided the necessary funds to fix the sagging Friant-Kern Canal was killed by the state legislature on Thursday.

State Sen. Melissa Hurtado introduced SB 559 to the legislature in February 2019, but the Assembly Appropriations Committee stuck it in the suspense file since August of last year, delaying its consideration to the 2020 legislative session.

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Climate Change Report Forecasts Hard Times for Kern Ag

August 14, 2020/in California and the U.S., Home Headline, Media Coverage /by Kimberlyn Velasquez /Bakersfield.comby John Cox

A new report warns Kern County agriculture will face tough challenges in the decades ahead as climate change makes irrigation water scarcer and weather conditions more variable and intense.

The study concludes these hurdles “ultimately challenge the ability to maximize production while ensuring profitability.” But it also predicts impacts will vary by crop, with almond production benefiting somewhat while growers of pistachios, grapes, oranges and carrots face overall difficult conditions.

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Farmers Doing More With Less Need Help From Above

July 22, 2020/in California and the U.S., Media Coverage /by Kimberlyn Velasquez /Bakersfield.comby Dianne Hardisty

Joel Ackerknecht manages about 3,500 acres of land north and west of Bakersfield and south of Arvin for DM Camp and Sons, a more than 80-year-old Kern County farming operation that grows a variety of specialty crops, including wine grapes, nuts and sweet potatoes.

A combination of expanding global demand for California produce, stretched water resources, receding ground water levels and increasing government regulations caused Ackerknecht to search for ways to do more with less.

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Scientists Affirm Adequacy of Kern Fracking Reviews

July 7, 2020/in California and the U.S., Home Headline, Media Coverage /by Kimberlyn Velasquez /Bakersfield.comby John Cox

Bay Area scientists have signed off on a series of fracking permits in western Kern County, allowing the well-completion technique to proceed after Gov. Gavin Newsom put in place new, time-consuming review procedures prompted by environmental concerns and regulatory conflict-of-interest accusations.

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Kern County Water Industry is Ready to Discuss Water Concerns with President Trump

February 19, 2020/in Home Headline, Media Coverage, San Diego County /by Mike Lee /Bakersfield Now by Jeanette Quezada

Water is essential for survival.

It’s just as true for you and me as it is for the Ag community of Kern County, which depends on water to grow all of its crops.

According to Gene Lundquist, president of the Water Association of Kern County, we use more than two million acre-feet to grow what feeds the entire country.

“We cannot do anything here in Kern County without water,” he said.

Lundquist said most of the water we use is groundwater.

The second-largest source is the state water project water, which comes from the California aqueduct.

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