Originally published in the Napa Valley Register on November 29, 2021

Oct. 20. was the last time we watered our crops before the atmospheric river on Oct. 23 soaked our fields with about six inches of rain in 24 hours. Before Oct. 23, California was a parched and golden-dry landscape, riddled with failing wells, rocky riverbeds, dry canals, and puddles instead of lakes.

Our own agricultural well fell to 75 % of its productivity in April, and we considered ourselves lucky. One glorious month later, on Nov. 17 we decided our crops finally needed a little bit of irrigation, and we measured our well running at its full potential.

So now that the hills are green with six inches of new growth, the perennial oak trees are glowing with their first good drink in years, and wells are pumping out water, are farmers finally breathing a sigh of relief? Well yes, we are as we would be crazy to not bask in the momentary glory of a whole winter’s worth of rain in one day. But that sigh of relief is bated. The truth is those green hills are just as parched and drought stricken as they were in early October.

The current two-year drought we are experiencing is the worst in California’s 100-year record, surpassing even the 2012-2016 drought. And the scariest part is it only took two years for the present drought to beat all records, in comparison to the greater than three-year droughts experienced in previous events.

While October’s atmospheric river brought Northern California up to average seasonal rainfall, weather models strongly predict a dry winter and spring. This means we are still very much in a drought, and above all climate change is progressing as predicted. Drastic swings of drought, heavy rainfall, flooding, and fire will continue into the foreseeable future.

When I attended a Community Alliance for Family Farmers meeting where farmers could discuss farming challenges and opportunities many issues were brought up. Every increase in price the average American is currently experiencing is ever more present for farmers. Labor is hard to find, the cost to keep an employee is increasing, resources are more expensive, and there is the whiplash we all experienced from a pandemic-era economy. Of all the problems though, drought and climate change are at the forefront of all our concerns.

While agri-businesses are drilling wells in the Central Valley at 850 feet depths (this is dinosaur water irrigating your pistachios, folks), smaller farms are contemplating the expensive and disheartening need to drill deeper wells or call it quits. With another winter of drought in our future not every farm, small or large, will come out unscathed. And as the largest producer of food in the country, the effect of drought on California farmers will be felt locally, nationally, and internationally.

On a more personal perspective, I can tell you that we as farmers do not feel prepared or supported to face the coming years. Yes, we can drill a deeper well, but when will that dry up? Yes, we can install a solar pumping system to run our farm and well when PG & E shuts off the power, but what happens when a fire blocks all the sun with smoke or at worst, burns it all down? Yes, we can plant crops in our fields, but what will we do when an atmospheric river floods it all away? Yes, we can aim to expand our businesses and hire employees, but what happens when we cannot pay our employees? And at the forefront of this all, what and who are our back-up plan?

Without a reliable source of water, farmers cannot farm, not even a little bit. Reliable water to a farmer means something entirely different than it does to most Californians. You all may be able to replant your lawns at the end of this drought, but we will not all be able to restart our farms. To continue farming we need water all year, every day, and in predictable quantities.

Climate change is here, it is going unaddressed, and farmers, who are the most vulnerable to its effects yet the most capable of reversing its course are going unaided and unacknowledged. More on this in a future column though. In the meantime, I ask you to refer to Daniel Swain’s blog at weatherwest.com to understand and hopefully inspire you to act on the consequences of climate change.