There is no doubt that the ongoing drought has hit California’s Central Valley hard. A new study by the UC Davis Center for Watershed Sciences suggests that it could cost the agriculture industry there as much as $1.7 billion and may result in more than 14,500 workers to losing their jobs.

The preliminary analysis indicates that the Central Valley, the richest food-producing region in the world, likely will receive only two-thirds of its normal river water deliveries this year due to the drought. The particular impacts of this include:

• Reduced surface water deliveries of 6.5 million acre-feet of water, or 32.5 percent of normal water use by Central Valley growers. An acre-foot is enough water to cover an acre of land in a foot of water, or enough water for about two California households for a year.
• Fallowing of an additional 410,000 acres, representing 6 percent of irrigated cropland in the Central Valley.
• The loss of an estimated 14,500 seasonal and full-time jobs. About 6,400 of these jobs are directly involved in crop production.
• A total cost of $1.7 billion to the Central Valley’s irrigated farm industry this year, including about $450 million in additional costs of groundwater pumping.
• About 60 percent of the economic losses will occur in the San Joaquin Valley and Tulare Lake Basin.

The current drought will result in major hardships for many farmers, small communities and the environment. However, it should have little impact on California’s overall economy. Agriculture accounts for less than 3% of the state’s yearly gross domestic product.

The analysis was done at the request of the California Department of Food and Agriculture, which co-funded the research along with the University of California. The UC Davis Center for Watershed Sciences plans to release a more comprehensive report of the drought’s economic impact on the state’s irrigated agriculture this summer.

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