Goals Continued from Page 1
Management Act, under which local groundwater sustainability agencies have been working to put together plans for state approval. The proposed funding brings Newsom’s total budget request for SGMA to $300million. “Some folks are really breaking their backs, trying tomeet their deadline of Jan. 31 tohave their groundwater sustainability plans submitted for review,”Merkley said, noting that theprocesshasbeenespecially tough onmore rural counties. HecitedHumboldtCountyasanexample. “They’re behind the 8-ball,” Merkley said. “They haven’t been able to have meetings where they can get public input and sort things out that way. They don’t have good broadband, and they can’t re- allymeet in person.” Newsomalso called for $500million for Multi-BenefitLandRepurposing—inother words, aiding farmers forced to take agri- cultural land out of production because of alackofwater.Themoneywouldbeusedto conserve land for habitat andopen space. This idea is also being discussed in the Legislature as Assembly Bi l l 242 from Assembly members Robert Rivas, D-Hol lister, and Rudy Salas, D-Bakersfield. Rivas chairs the Assembly Agriculture Committee. How useful that funding would be “de- pends onwhere youare andwho youare,” Merkley said. “If you’re in a position that you’re going
tohave to take your productive landout of productionbecauseof SGMAandbecause of the drought, you don’t have water, then this can help,” he said. “It’s not going to make you whole, but it will help to offset someof your losses—losses inproduction, losses in property value—and it can help facilitate converting it to other uses.” Merkley noted that FarmBureau policy opposes permanently retiring agricultur- al land, but that the land-conversion pro- visions of the budget proposal andAB 242 applyonlytowillinglandowners,whowould havetheoptionofretainingtitletotheirland. “If they canget a littlebit of help tooffset their losses fromlackof productiontocon- verting it to conservation uses, then that’s helpful,” he said. The revised budget also proposes an additional $60million for the StateWater EfficiencyandEnhancementProgram, ad- ministered by the California Department
of Food and Agriculture. The program provides financial assistance to farmers for irrigation system improvements that lowerwateruseandgreenhouse-gasemis- sions. TheMay revision also adds $5mil- lion for technical assistance for on-farm water use efficiency, and $1.5 million for drought-related economic analysis and decision-making tools for agriculture. Merkley said thecurrent direwater situ- ation inwhichCalifornia finds itself points up the need for planning ahead. “It’s too late now for this year, but where we’ll reallygetourbiggestbangforourbuck is investing instorage,”hesaid. “Thevoters, almost seven years ago, overwhelmingly approved$2.7billionfornewwater storage (in the Proposition 1water bond), and the process is really dragging its feet.” (Kevin Hecteman i s an ass i stant editor of Ag Alert. He can be contacted at khecteman@cfbf.com.) ProgramDraft Request for Proposals. The agencyhasposted itsdraft request forpro- posals atwww.cdfa.ca.gov/oefi/planning/ docs/Draft_Planning_RFP.pdf. Comments may be submitted to cdfa. oefi@cdfa.ca.gov through June 15. The programhas been under consider- ation for a year, CDFA said, though it has not yet secured funding.
and removing barriers to fish passage. Notablymissing fromthat list is agricul- ture,accordingtoDannyMerkley,California FarmBureaudirector ofwater resources. “There’snothing in thebudget that real- ly helps free upwater for food production and ag products,” Merkley said. “There’s just nowater there.” The governor’s plan will be negotiated along with a similar plan for short-term water investments proposed in the state Senate,with the resultingcompromiseap- pearing inthe final budget thatmustbeap- provedandsent tothegovernorby June15. Merkley noted that the governor’s pro- posal includes elements of Senate Bill 559 from Sen. Melissa Hurtado, D-Sanger, which would help with repairs on water conveyance facilities. “That would pony up the state’s share of the cost for repairs to the Friant-Kern Canal, the California Aqueduct and the Delta-Mendota Canal, where they have subsidence issues and have considerable work to be done,” he said. A similar bill was approved by the Legislature last yearbutNewsomvetoed it, saying he supported repairing the Friant- Kern Canal but felt it should be dealt with in the normal budget process. Thegovernor’s revisedbudget proposal also includes $200million for implemen- tation of the Sustainable Groundwater
Climate program accepts comments A proposed new state program to help farmers and ranchers identify actions to help adapt and offset climate change will be open for public comment through mid-June.
The California Department of Food and Agriculture said last week it had be- gun accepting comments on its proposed Conservation Agriculture Planning Grant
Growing fresh, nutritious California food products. Protect your bottom line by helping to elect decision makers who value family farms and ranches.
FARM PAC ® works tirelessly to support candidates for California offices who promote commonsense solutions, not excessive regulations. Your contributions to FARM PAC —the California Farm Bureau Fund to Protect the Family Farm—go to supporting political campaigns that work for you and your family. (State ID# 760960)
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16 Ag Alert May 19, 2021
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