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Current Issue Links
Kern takes half-billion-dollar farm hit
By ADAM L. R. SUMMERS
News Review Staff Writer
With California suffering a double loss of water for agriculture from the combined effects of prolonged drought
and a court order shifting water priorities to favor an endangered fish, the state’s farmers and ranchers have been
expecting a financial beating.
New figures from Kern County are beginning to show just how big a beating it is.
This year Kern County stands to lose $567 million from the drought’s effects on crops and livestock, according to
County Agricultural Commissioner Ruben Arroyo.
In 2008, the county’s total agricultural output was valued at $4.03 billion. Based on that figure, the losses
represent a 14-percent reduction in the county’s agriculture industry.
Drought has forced farmers to idle 181,561 acres of land. And 50 percent of the county’s rangeland for livestock
has been destroyed.
Arroyo made the estimate of agriculture losses for a request he has filed with state and federal agriculture
agencies that Kern County be declared a drought disaster area.
Based on figures from agricultural commissioners around the state, Kern’s losses are far ahead of all counties
except Fresno, which expects to lose $730 million this year.
Because part of the water shortage is caused by court-ordered protections for the delta smelt, an endangered
fish living in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, agricultural concerns and farm-labor unions have begun
stepping up calls for an exception to endangered-species laws that would circumvent the court order and unlock
hundreds of thousands of acre-feet of water.
The California Farm Bureau Federation’s AgAlert newspaper reported that efforts to get an exemption have run
into opposition from legislators and the administration of President Barack Obama.
Agricultural interests are asking the administration to convene a “God Squad,” the colloquial term for a federal
panel of representatives of several agencies with endangered-species oversight.
Such a panel can act collectively to give a federal exception to protection for the delta smelt.
But Ken Salazar, Obama’s secretary of the interior, has resisted bringing together a God Squad. AgAlert quoted
Salazar as saying, “Convening a God Squad would admit failure.”
He told a gathering of farmers and laborers in Fresno that he would increase federal activity within the Bay-Delta
Authority, an intergovernmental body that administers the delta.
He also pledged to speed up federal stimulus money and permitting for projects that could increase water-
related infrastructure.
News Review Staff Writer
With California suffering a double loss of water for agriculture from the combined effects of prolonged drought
and a court order shifting water priorities to favor an endangered fish, the state’s farmers and ranchers have been
expecting a financial beating.
New figures from Kern County are beginning to show just how big a beating it is.
This year Kern County stands to lose $567 million from the drought’s effects on crops and livestock, according to
County Agricultural Commissioner Ruben Arroyo.
In 2008, the county’s total agricultural output was valued at $4.03 billion. Based on that figure, the losses
represent a 14-percent reduction in the county’s agriculture industry.
Drought has forced farmers to idle 181,561 acres of land. And 50 percent of the county’s rangeland for livestock
has been destroyed.
Arroyo made the estimate of agriculture losses for a request he has filed with state and federal agriculture
agencies that Kern County be declared a drought disaster area.
Based on figures from agricultural commissioners around the state, Kern’s losses are far ahead of all counties
except Fresno, which expects to lose $730 million this year.
Because part of the water shortage is caused by court-ordered protections for the delta smelt, an endangered
fish living in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, agricultural concerns and farm-labor unions have begun
stepping up calls for an exception to endangered-species laws that would circumvent the court order and unlock
hundreds of thousands of acre-feet of water.
The California Farm Bureau Federation’s AgAlert newspaper reported that efforts to get an exemption have run
into opposition from legislators and the administration of President Barack Obama.
Agricultural interests are asking the administration to convene a “God Squad,” the colloquial term for a federal
panel of representatives of several agencies with endangered-species oversight.
Such a panel can act collectively to give a federal exception to protection for the delta smelt.
But Ken Salazar, Obama’s secretary of the interior, has resisted bringing together a God Squad. AgAlert quoted
Salazar as saying, “Convening a God Squad would admit failure.”
He told a gathering of farmers and laborers in Fresno that he would increase federal activity within the Bay-Delta
Authority, an intergovernmental body that administers the delta.
He also pledged to speed up federal stimulus money and permitting for projects that could increase water-
related infrastructure.
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