The fifth year of drought in California will cost the agricultural sector $603 million in lower crop revenue, higher costs of pumping water, and lost jobs, says a report by UC-Davis. “Agriculture in California remains strong, with moderate growth in value, and in some cases employment, despite four years of dry conditions,” says a summary by the team of five researchers.
“Overall drought effects are much milder than in2014 or 2015,” says the report. Slightly less than 80,000 acres of land were idled due to drought, or 6.6 percent of land in the Central Valley, this year. Crop revenue was $247 million, or less than 1-percent lower than usual, while pumping costs were $303 million, or 39-percent higher. Some 1,815 seasonal farm jobs were lost due to drought, out of 200,000 typically employed in farm production.
Livestock revenue suffered only nominal losses. “Forage costs have … decreased due to wetter conditions. The dairy sector is more vulnerable to market conditions than to drought,” said the report.
“A diversified and global California economy also has dampened the adverse effects of recent water shortages in agriculture. Losses from water cutbacks to irrigated areas, revenue losses, an statewide impacts have been large, but economic losses have been much less severe than water cutbacks statewide.”