Originally published in the Napa Valley Register on March 28, 2022

“Bombtober” some called it, when an incredible atmospheric river drenched the drought-stricken soils and mountains of California. We all danced and rejoiced, and much thought, and may still think, that we made it through the recent stretch of drought. Was it realistic to believe that a few days of heavy rain could undo the harm of months and years of drought? Only if it continued to rain, but it never did.

This winter we experienced the driest January and February in recorded history, which are typically our wettest. And we will not have a “Miracle March”. Staring down the barrel of the coming summer, the entire West Coast should be terrified. California farmers are certainly shaking their usually calm and often-optimistic heads at what is to come.

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Farmers may sound like a broken record always complaining about drought and water. Last season saw many farmers give up on pastures and orchards when water ran out. Many wells ran dry, and watersheds were emptied leaving dry canals and rivers. As an indicator, California rice farmers cut their production by 20%. And this is for a group of farmers who have historically reliable access to water.

In my home community of the Capay Valley, the watersheds feeding Cache Creek shut off in June 2021 and turned the creek bed into puddles. By August the well on our farm diminished its water output by about a third, making the rest of the farming season a nightmare to irrigate.

The Capay Valley has a relatively healthy water table compared to the rest of the state, but for those of us with shallow wells, the options to continue farming are limited. Instead of claiming income, we are taking out loans to pay for new wells in the hopes that they will allow us to farm in the coming years. But the waitlist for new wells can be over a year, meaning many rural residents and farmers will be without water this summer.

For us at Sun Tracker Farm, we decided to not plant any summer crops in 2022. So much financial, physical and emotional investment goes into planning a summer season. We may have enough water to get to July, but we are guaranteed to lose a reliable source of water in the coming months. Instead of fighting tooth and nail to farm this summer, we are taking a step back to recover and become better equipped to face the worsening consequences of climate change. In the coming years, we hope to be a reliable source of food and combatants of a more environmentally sustainable food system.

On a broader note, the last few years of pandemic and drought is finally catching up to the farming community. In my own circle of farmers, I know many people retiring, restructuring their farm,s or selling their farms and moving on. The trauma of drought, fire and the pandemic left its scars, and there is only so much a farmer can give when the financial margins are so small.

You may be tired of hearing it, but now more than ever is when we should take action to reverse climate change. A recent study (Williams, Cook, & Smerdon. Nature Climate Change. 2022) showed that the recent 22-year period in the North American southwest was the driest since 800, and with the added drought of 2022, it is also the longest duration of drought since the1500s.

We are entering unprecedented times in human history. Farmers feel the pain and urgency today, and many of us are taking action to mitigate and fight climate change. When will the rest of society, lawmakers, consumers and businesses do the same?