Tehachapi's Online Community News & Entertainment Guide
Tehachapi's Online Community News & Entertainment Guide
The Forde Files No 133
Growers choosing crops that use less water
Bornt Family Farms employees harvesting lettuce in eastern Tehachapi Valley. Following the sun, Bornt moves its operations in the fall to Arizona and then to the Imperial Valley, returning in March to plant again in Tehachapi. Lettuce matures in six weeks; another crop is planted.
Bornt crew moves irrigation pipes, tractors and other gear to a new location in Arizona.
A grower irrigates a young crop in Cummings Valley, Oct. 26, 2016. The Tehachapi-Cummings County Water District works with the growers on water issues.
Lettuce and grapes grown in the valleys of Tehachapi.
Lettuce and grapes grown in the valleys of Tehachapi.
The total value in 2015 of all agricultural commodities in Kern County was almost $6.9 billion, a decrease of 9 percent from the 2014 crop value of $7.5 billion, Agricultural Commissioner Ruben Arroyo said in his annual Agricultural Crop Report.
While the report (www.kernag.com), does not address the cause of the decrease, Assistant Commissioner Glenn Fankhauser told Forde Files that the drought and water restrictions impact the types of crops that growers choose to plant. Growers key their choices to the value of the crops at the time of sale.
"The trend has been toward permanent acreage like a tree or vine," Fankhauser said. "The grower can target the water with drip irrigation."
Row crops that are planted every year, he said, are water intensive.
In 2015, 534,841 acres were in cultivation, up from 516,030 in 2014.
The top five Kern County commodities for 2015 were grapes ($1.6 billion), almonds (including by-products, $1.5 billion), citrus (fresh and processing, $928 million), milk (market and manufacturing, $695 million), and cattle and calves ($356 million).
The report does not include breakout numbers for Tehachapi. Tehachapi-Cummings County Water District Manager Tom Neisler said the acreage under cultivation in the Tehachapi valleys has increased, and the district plans ahead for future water needs.
"We have seen an increase in our agricultural footprint," Neisler said in an email to Forde Files. "In 2016 we had approximately 2,600 of irrigated agriculture. In 2015, that total was approximately 2,400 acres. Obviously, we cannot accommodate increased agricultural irrigation indefinitely. We are planning to be able to accommodate all water use requests for 2017 that we are aware of at this time, subject to adequate imported State Water Project allocation. We are keeping a close eye on expansion and will address the issue before it becomes an unsustainable problem.
"The district has worked hard to keep rates stable and has filled all of our orders during this historic drought. We have an excellent working relationship with our agricultural, as well as municipal and industrial, customers. We feel these factors have contributed to the growers' decisions to increase their irrigated acreage within our district. It should be noted that both our agricultural and M&I customers have decreased their use. Agricultural irrigation per acre has declined significantly in the past several years as growers have installed more efficient pipe and irrigation heads."
