Sustainable Groundwater Act and Round 2 of Specialty Crop Assistance
From the Ag Information Network, this is your Agribusiness Update.
**California’s Sustainable Groundwater Management Act has reshaped groundwater use for many farmers and groundwater users in recent years.
This month, state water agencies signaled their intention to implement even stronger measures to prevent groundwater overdraft and impacts like land subsidence.
Department of Water Resources Paul Gosselin says it’s going to cause a significant ask on land transition, so there will have to be a considerable state effort to deal with a lot of the impacts.
**Ag Secretary Brooke Rollins announced a second round of payments coming for specialty crop producers through the Marketing Assistance for Specialty Crops Program.
The $1.3 billion comes from USDA’s Farm Service Agency AFTER it already delivered just under $900 million in first-round payments to eligible producers.
Rollins says she’s happy to announce this second round of support for specialty crop producers and is thankful for the work they do.
**The overall Rural Mainstreet Index for March fell below growth neutral for the 18th time in the past 19 months.
When comparing 2025 farm income against 2024, only 3.7% of bankers expect an increase, while 63% predict an income drop.
For the tenth time in the past 11 months, the Index said farmland prices sank.
When discussing tariffs, only 7.5% of bank CEOs recommend returning to January tariff levels.
