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Sowing Clean Water

An apricot grower who reduced his water use by 50% and a pear grower who cut his pesticide use in half are among more than a dozen farmers profiled in a recent Natural Resources Defense Council report examining the use of water conservation and pesticide reduction techniques to improve water quality. The report, entitled Agricultural Solutions (see Now in Print), examines techniques such as drip and sprinkler irrigation, soil building, crop rotation, and cover crops to prevent selenium and pesticide runoff to rivers and streams.

"People think conservation is antagonistic to farming, which isn't true," says Ronnie Cohen, co-author of the report. "This proves that these practices are perfectly consistent with profitable farming operations, and can often improve yields and crop quality."

Although unplanned, Cohen says the timing of the report's release to coincide with the comment period on CALFED's draft EIS/EIR was fortuitous. "We'd like to see mechanisms that promote these practices in the final CALFED plan," she says. Cohen cites as an example the Panoche Drainage District, which requires farmers to use efficient irrigation practices as a precondition for receiving water deliveries.

Mike McElhiney of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation Service says the report "accurately reflects growers' ability to do good things with their land." The Service operates a program to help growers in Stanislaus County implement best management practices (BMPs) to reduce runoff to the San Joaquin River. Farmers must compete to participate in the program, which includes cost-sharing and technical assistance.

"We've got a lot of willing growers out here who want to do the right thing," says McElhiney, "We get many more applications than there is money." Although the practices can save farmers money in the long run, some of them have significant initial costs.

McElhiney says water price increases have spurred growing interest in using the BMPs, particularly among family farmers. Nevertheless, "we've still got some folks out here that need to get on board. We need to reach all the farmers with the message that these practices make sense."

Contact: Ronnie Cohen (415)777-0220

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