BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KERO) — Aside from farm workers, the ongoing drought in California is affecting the state’s economy in a number of ways. 23ABC took a close look at a recent study conducted by the University of California Merced in February and looked at these effects.
The report was prepared using “surveys, reviews of hydrological information and remote sensing data from these areas and compared them to average conditions and to the 2012-2016 drought.” It also focused on the Central Valley areas, including the Sacramento, San Joaquin, and Tulare Lake Basins; the Russian River Basin and valley regions in Lassen, Modoc, Shasta and Siskiyou counties.
The report not only focused on drought, but also considered changes in water demand caused by irrigation practices and other processes.
First some facts you should know. California’s agribusiness is the largest in the country with an average annual turnover of US$50 billion. The country’s agricultural industry also employs more than 400,000 people. Mike remained the top contributor at $7 billion, followed by almonds at $5.8 billion and grapes at $5.5 billion.
According to the UC Merced report, the 2021 drought directly cost the industry about $1.1 billion in losses. The Central Valley had the highest loss percentage at $755 million, followed by the Russian River Basin at $148 million.
In addition, almost 8.8 full-time and part-time jobs were lost in this industry alone. Taking into account other industries affected by the drought, a total of 14,634 full-time and part-time jobs were lost.
Over 390,000 acres of land have been left fallow — about 385,000 acres in the Central Valley alone — due to drought-related water cuts. The hardest hit areas were rice (Sacramento Valley), cotton (San Joaquin Valley), and grains and crops nationwide.
Regarding the state’s largest source of revenue, milk, some of the economic costs of the drought were mitigated by higher prices due to increased global demand. And in some cases, using alternatives to hay and grain improved milk production.
Similarly, beef cattle prices were also higher in 2021. California herds were up 1%, in contrast to the statewide where they were down 2%. According to the report, “it was difficult to find evidence that drought-induced decline in grazing areas resulted in lower beef cattle herds, as expected”.
Kern and Tulare counties are among the areas hardest hit by the drought.
“Compared to the 2012-2016 drought, conditions for the Sacramento Valley and Russian River Basin were much worse, but the nationwide impact was not as severe as in 2015 — the nadir of the last drought,” said School of Engineering Professor Josué Medellín -Azuara, lead author of the report. “Should dry conditions persist throughout 2022, a higher level of adaptation measures could come into play to reduce the economic impact on agriculture and the communities that host thousands of households that make a living from farming.”
The study found that there were some limitations in preparing the report, including problems in estimating surface water cuts, groundwater and pumping restrictions, assumptions about yield impacts, and determining causes of fallow land other than drought.
“This was a rapid drought and shows how climate change is amplifying the challenges we face in water management in California,” said researcher and co-author Alvar Escriva-Bou, a technology and policy expert at the Public Policy Institute of California . “Unfortunately, we will see more and more droughts like this, so we need better tools to anticipate and minimize the socioeconomic impact.”
2021 Drought Impact Assessment 20210224
Comments are closed.