A massive farm in Central Valley, California, is teaming with Israeli water experts running the first ever experiment with drip irrigation for rice production in the U.S. All 17,000 acres of Conaway Ranch are owned by the “land baron” Tsakopoulos family, which developed most of suburban Sacramento, says The Sacramento Bee. Lundberg Farms, a leader in U.S. organic rice producer, also will participate in the experiment.
The test plots will start out small, at just 50-100 acres. But if successful, drip irrigation could mean decreasing water use 45 to 50 percent, without hurting crop yields, according to Eilon Adar, a hydrologist at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. That would be no small achievement, given that “experts estimate the 2015 rice crop was 30 percent smaller than usual because of water shortages,” in drought-stricken California, according to the Bee. Adar added that using less water also reduces the need for pesticides and fertilizers.
Some environmentalists applaud the experiment, hoping it will offer a way to keep more cool water in the Sacramento River and protect winter-run Chinook salmon, which have experienced a near total population collapse. The fish compete for water with farms and communities. But other environmentalists and some farmers worry that drip irrigation could mean a sharp decline in bird habitat. Water-soaked rice fields substitute for the extensive network of wetlands and riparian zones that once extended through the Central Valley—90 to 95 percent of which has been lost, according to Meghan Hertel, an official with Audubon California.
“Nearly 230 wildlife species depend on those fields for food and a resting place. That includes nearly 60 percent of the food consumed by the millions of ducks and geese that travel along the Pacific Flyway each fall and winter,” said Jim Morris, spokesman for the California Rice Commission.
Rice aside, drought conditions have eased somewhat in California thanks to what is being called the “March Miracle.” A spate of El Niño-driven storms have pushed the state to about 81 percent of its end-of-March average for precipitation. The Sierra snowpack also is above average, inspiring the state Department of Water Resources to boost its allocations from 30 to 45 percent of requests, reports the LA Times.