California Water Act Costing Farmers and Irrigated Cropland Acres Down
From the Ag Information Network, this is your Agribusiness Update.
**Implementation of California’s Sustainable Groundwater
Management Act has left some San Joaquin Valley farmers in dire financial straits as they confront groundwater pumping restrictions that limit their ability to irrigate.
Arshdeep Singh, director of the Punjabi American Growers Group, says he’s worked with 10 farmers facing bankruptcy this year.
Researchers estimate the pumping reductions needed to stabilize the region’s aquifers could result in farm revenue losses of more than $7 billion a year.
**The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association calls the recommendation of the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee to replace high-quality protein like beef with beans, peas, and lentils, “unhinged.”
NCBA’s Ethan Lane says the Committee’s preview stands out as one of the most out-of-touch, impractical, and elitist conversations in the history of the process.
Lane says after 22 months of discussion, we’re disappointed by the number of chaotic new directions proposed at the last minute.
**The latest USDA Census of Agriculture data shows just under 55 million acres of U.S. cropland was irrigated in 2022.
This is the lowest level since 1992 and down roughly 3 million acres from the last census in 2017, when irrigated cropland hit a record high 58 million acres.
The decline was driven primarily by decreases in the Mountain region, Northern and Southern Plains.
About 18% of U.S. cropland is irrigated.
