Bob Borda, vice president of marketing at Grimmway Farms in Bakersfield, says they are well positioned to get through the drought this season, owning farmland located in several different California growing areas with surface water opportunities. “We have been actively evaluating our groundwater assets and securing additional surface supplies when necessary. If the drought continues in future years, we will continue to evaluate the growing environment, adjusting our practices when necessary.” He added that Grimmway is always looking for ways to conserve water. “We’re increasing the usage of drip tape where applicable, and continuing to convert our traditional aluminum irrigation pipe to more efficient Yelomine PVC pipe that reduces leakage.”
Gilroy-based garlic grower Christopher Ranch also uses drip irrigation to reduce water usage and waste. Patsy Ross, director of marketing for Christopher Ranch, confirms the grower is continually looking for more efficient ways to irrigate. “We’re also working very closely with our farmers that currently have access to water. Things are stable for this year’s crop.”
From an avocado perspective, Rob Wedin, vice president of fresh sales and marketing for Santa Paula-based Calavo Growers, Inc., says “the future depends very heavily on next winter” and the amount of snow received. He explained that although there are many productive avocado groves in the state, “there are also growers who have been on edge for a while. Having a poor winter next year would drive them that much further to calling it quits.”
Bob Rinker, managing partner of Fresh Link Group, LLC in Bakersfield says some of the problem is caused by the inability to move water from the wetter north to the drier south. “The San Francisco Bay delta has a lot of water going out to sea that could be recovered,” he says, citing an idea proposed by Governor Brown (the Bay Delta Conservation Plan) to build a tunnel under the delta that would allow water to flow underneath it.
But, Rinker explains, neither the funding nor necessary political support for the project is there. “Barring construction of a delivery system, I think we need to increase our storage capability throughout the state. We’re still going to have droughts, but it will help the problem.”
Karl Kolb, Ph.D, chief science officer at the High Sierra Group in Wisconsin comments, “We need to determine answers, not just fixes. People forget that California is desert for the most part. I don’t know what the answer is, but it has to be a lot of things at once—it’s not one thing.”
HEALTHY EATING OUT: According to the National Restaurant Association, California was ranked 10th in the nation for projected restaurant sales growth in 2014.
False: California was ranked first for growth in 2014, due in large part to more healthy menus including fresh produce. The National Restaurant Association reports the state was host to just under 64,000 eating and drinking establishments in 2012, with nearly $70 billion in sales projected for 2014.
