November 5, 2007--Water limits bedevil Calif. farmers (Denver Post)
Drought and water restrictions are exacting a high price on California farmers who must make tough decisions about what to plant or fallow, harvest or plow under, prune or chop down. In recent years, some farmers have shifted from annually planted fruits and vegetables to more profitable permanent crops such as nuts and grapes. But with less water, many are struggling to keep the plants alive. Roughly 4,500 statewide farmers the California Farm Water Coalition depend on water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, where a judge limited pumping in August to protect the endangered delta smelt. That ruling came in response to a 2005 lawsuit filed by the Natural Resources Defense Council that claimed the massive pumps used by the State Water Project and federal Central Valley Project were driving the tiny fish to extinction.
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