New SGMA Resource for Underrepresented Growers

New SGMA Resource for Underrepresented Growers

Tim Hammerich
Tim Hammerich
News Reporter
With California Ag Today, I’m Tim Hammerich.

Vicky Espinoza is a PhD candidate at UC Merced who is researching the impacts of the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act on agricultural land use. She noticed that there weren’t enough resources out there for underrepresented growers about SGMA, especially those who English is not their first language. So she developed a series of bilingual videos and posted them on a new YouTube channel: CaliWaterAg.

Espinoza… “Hopefully through CaliWaterAg, they can obtain what is SGMA, how does it impact them and how they can become involved. Because you know, our growers and communities can attend Groundwater Sustainability Agency meetings, and they could voice their concerns and any suggestions that they may have for developing solutions.”

Those videos are free on YouTube and can be found just by searching CaliWaterAg. Espinoza is also hosting a series of workshops on the topic next month.

Espinoza… “So it's really a channel to inform, empower and encourage them to become involved in the conversation. And I will be hosting a workshop January 13th in English and January 14th in Spanish to talk to growers and community members, answer any questions they may have regarding the series, SGMA, land use or land re-purposing options that I go over in the fourth video of the series. And to listen to them, to listen to their perspectives and what they think about land re-purposing options and to address groundwater overdraft.”

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