Delta Continued from Page 1 closeformany farmers,Courchesnesaidhe still hasmoreharvestworkahead. “Evenafterweharvest thepeaches, nec- tarines or cherries off of the tree, we still have to keep the trees alive.We’ve gotmil- lions of dollars invested and those trees represent our income for the next 20 or 30 years,” Courchesne said. Water from the delta contributes to the water supply for more than two-thirds of Californiansand isusedto irrigatemillions of acres of farmland. Deltawaterdistricts,suchasCourchesne’s district, the Bryon-Bethany Irrigation District inContraCostaCounty, have some of the oldest water rights in the state—ri- parian and pre-1914 rights, in addition to a contract with the federal Central Valley Project. BBID’s post-1914 rights through theCVPwent froma 5%water allocation to zero. After last week’s adoption of curtail- ment regulations, he expects cutbacks to seniorwater rights. Chris Scheuring, California Farm Bureau senior counsel, in addressing the state water board last week, said, “Most of the (Delta) water rights holders discussed here have a face behind them—a farmer, farmfamily, farmworker or it couldbe just a person eating a salad. But there’s a face behind all of this, includingmy family.” “Ingeneral, farmersunderstanddrought and they understand lean rain years, but they don’t understand the downward
slide inwater reliability that we are facing inCalifornia,”Scheuring said. “At the same time, we’re watching the slow permitting of new storage and infrastructure projects and the failure to execute on what might get us out of these places called curtail- ment, things like Proposition 1.” Proposition 1, approved with wide vot- er support in 2014, was supposed to lead tomajor water storage projects to prevent crises in drought years. Work on getting these projects constructed has been slow. Back in the orchard in Brentwood, Courchesne is preparing for less water. He said he plans to continue farming sus- tainably by using micro-irrigation and regenerating the soil to build fertility and nutrients. He said he hopes this will help his trees bemore resilient and survive. TheSanFranciscoBayAreanativediscov- ereda loveof farming inhis20sandin1976, started his Brentwood farmwith about 12 acres of organicpeaches. Hehas expanded the farmto280acres, specializing inpeach- es, plums, nectarines andother crops. Courchesne said he keeps farming be- cause “I love it. I get to work with nature, I get to be outdoors, and I work with great people.We’re that kindof a farmthat is in- tegrated into the community.” Noting that “farmers are cutting back their water use more than anybody else,” Courchesneunderscoredtheneedformore water conservationbyallCalifornians. “Everybodyhas todrink, everybodyhas
to take a bath and cook food, but we don’t have to water our golf courses and ceme- teries and lawns,” he said. “Millions of gal- lons go towaste every day becausepeople let their water run while brushing their teeth, so let’s not target the farmers. We have the optimal conditions in California to grow food for the nation.” Many farmshaveaccess togroundwater wells. But the Sustainability Groundwater ManagementAct requires farms to reduce pumping to prevent depleting groundwa- ter supplies. The De l t a cu r t a i lmen t s a ren ’ t California’s only water supply challenge. For water right holders in the Upper Russian River watershed, the water board issued curtailment orders on Aug. 2. This makes it illegal todrawordivertwater from theUpperRussianRiver, except asneeded to ensure human health and safety. The state water board also released an analysisof theLowerRussianRiverdemon- stratingthatapproximately222rightholders
needtobecurtailedtomeetdemandsonthe river. The board anticipates issuing orders totheserightholders thisweek.Theagency plans toconsideradroughtemergencyreg- ulation for the Scott River and ShastaRiver watersheds at itsAug. 17meeting. Unless the state’s drought declaration is lifted, the curtailment regulations will remain in place into the next water year, which begins Oct. 1. Thewater board asks Deltawater users to subscribe to theDelta Drought listor to frequentlyvisit theboard’s DeltaWatershedDrought Informationpage atwww.waterboards.ca.gov/drought/delta/. Meanwhile, Courchesne said he just wants people to understand where their food comes from. He added, “People say, ‘Oh, this is devastating to the farmers’ but what about the people that eat food? Everybody wants to eat. We have to have water to grow food.” (Chr i s t ine Souza i s an ass i s tant editor of Ag Alert. She may be contacted at csouza@cfbf.com.)
Meetings to focus on update to waters of U.S. definition
The policy pendulum is swinging yet again as federal agencies under the Biden administrationseek torevise thedefinition of “waters of the United States” under the CleanWater Act. Upon review of the previous admin- istration’s Navigable Waters Protection Rule done during the Trump administra- tion, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency andU.S. Department of theArmy determined that that rule reduces clean water protections. The agencies said recently that a forth- coming foundational rule would restore the regulationsdefiningWOTUS thatwere
in place for decades until 2015—with up- dates to be consistent with relevant U.S. Supreme Court decisions. The agencies announced the followingpublicmeetings: Aug. 18, fromnoonto2p.m. (PST);Aug. 23, from10 a.m. to noon; Aug. 25, fromnoon to2p.m.; Aug. 26, fromnoon to2p.m.; and Aug. 31, fromnoon to2p.m. Anadditional day—Sept. 2 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.—has beenreserved incaseall speaking slots are filled inearliermeetings. The agencies are also accepting written public comments until Sept. 3. For more information or to register for publicmeetings, seewww.epa.gov/wotus.
The Produce Safety Rule is Here; ARE YOU READY?
Farm Employers Labor Service (FELS), an a liated company of the California Farm Bureau (CAFB), has partnered with the Safe Food Alliance through a California Department of Food and Agriculture grant contract, as their designated training provider for Central and Southern California, to conduct the required Produce Safety training for growers. Presented in a free two-day remote delivery webinar format! What sets Safe Food Alliance, FELS, and Farm Bureau apart is their total of over 100 years of experience and our dedication to providing technical guidance and leadership to the California agriculture community. Most farms are required to have at least one designated supervisor who has been trained in accordance with the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) Produce Safety rule. Upon completion of the course, attendees will receive an o cial certi cate from the Association of Food & Drug O cials.
The Food Safety Training Partnership is offering these training courses throughout California. You can find more information and register at foodsafetytrainingpartnership.com, or call 916-561-5672. Supported by California Department of Food and Agriculture
6 Ag Alert August 11, 2021
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