This is the second of a four-part series looking at the severe impact the drought will have on agriculture this summer.

On The Brink

When it comes to the drought, local citrus growers are facing some of the biggest challenges.

The county’s $1 billion citrus crop is reeling from both four dry years and decisions to withhold irrigation water they have relied on for more than six decades.

Growers this year are not going to see any surface water and many face a year without ground water as well.

“I know we’re going to impacted — we’ve been impacted,” said California Citrus Mutual President Joel Nelsen. He said within the Friant Water division, which includes all of the Tulare County orange belt. He added there are 50,000 acres that are extremely vulnerable because they do not have groundwater.

One of those growers is Phillip Giannetto.

“It’s a real thing. Right now I’m in disbelief,” he said. Giannetto has 250 acres of oranges in the Terra Bella area with no water. There are approximately 600 growers and some 6,000 acres of citrus in Terra Bella that do not have access to ground water because of the typography. Without surface water, their orchards will die.

Last year, Terra Bella Irrigation District manager Sean Geivet was able to find just enough water to keep most trees alive. He is not very confident he can find that water in this fourth year of historic drought.

“I don’t see any water until at least April. Bureau (Bureau of Reclamation) has allocated 25 percent of what I got last year for domestic users in Terra Bella,” he said. He added, “I don’t know how Terra Bella is going to survive.”

One bit of good news, Lee Cohen with Setton Pistachio said they just got the go ahead to put on line a well the Pistachio company drilled last year to help out the community. That water will be pumped into the community’s water treatment plant.No Water To Be Found

Farmers, however, are still looking for any drop they can get.

Giannetto said he needs a foot of water per acre just to keep his trees alive and 3 feet of water per acre to produce a crop. He said he got a very limited crop on a few of his orchards last year. He said he does have a little carryover water from last year, but only enough to keep about 30 acres alive.

Nelsen said growers are having to decide which orchard to save and which one to let go. Citrus grower Billy Bennett has decided to let his 10 acres of oranges in Terra Bella die.

What water that might be found, will be costly. Giannetto said last year he dug deeply into his savings to pay $1,200 an acre foot. “I’m being asked to come up with $1,330 an acre foot,” he said of this year, “but there’s no water available.”

Terra Bella is not the only area of the county struggling. A grower said ground water that was always there is the past, is gone in some areas, like Ivanhoe. Growers who are spending $80,000 to drill well and find no water, do not have the money to drill another and banks are not likely to hand out loans on land with no water.

Nelsen said there are 120,000 acres of citrus in the region that will not have surface water again this year. He said the drought has already shown up with smaller fruit size and he is concerned fruit will be hard pressed to get much size next year.

“You need water now, then through the summer you’ve got to have sufficient water for the fruit sizes,” he said. “Then, you hope for some early fall rain.”

He stressed, “It’s going to be an extremely difficult year.”

Nelsen has been very critical of decisions to send water out to the ocean instead to grow food.

“You still have a mindset that producing food is not a priority,” he said, adding that Friant water users had a $6 per acre foot surcharge on what they pay for water for “environmental enhancements. We’ve never been told how that’s being spent,” he added.

Tulare County Farm Bureau Executive Director Trica Stever-Blattler said growers with younger trees will get by because they need less water. She has heard citrus could lose 25 percent of its acreage, most of that in the southeastern portion of the county. Nelen said it takes five to seven years before a new orchard begins producing. Tulare County has more than 114,000 acres planted in citrus.“Growers are worried whether this is the last year they will have a crop,” said Stever-Blattler.

Giannetto, who works besides growing citrus, said he is more worried for those growers who only grow citrus.

“There’s other guys out there that citrus is their complete livelihood.”

Also, he said, he is fearful the loss will trickle down to Main Street.Nelsen offered some hope when he said growers have become more water efficient and better at finding ways to survive.

“I was surprised last year. It seemed like everybody got through. Who knows what will happen this year,” said Giannetto.

Source - http://www.recorderonline.com/