Initial CVP water allotment may not increase plantings

By Christine Souza

Farmers south of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta who irrigate with water supplied by the federal Central Valley Project say they are thankful for a 35% water allocation announced in February.

But due to the timing of the announcement and lower crop prices, they say the initial allocation by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation may not lead to more planted acres. 

Stanislaus County farmer Daniel Bays, who grows tree and row crops in Westley, said he was already making planting decisions and preparing ground in the fall. 

“To wait until March 1 to decide whether or not you’re going to farm is a little late,” he said. “It could get wet for the rest of March, and you’re unable to get out and prep the fields to plant.”

Bays relies on water from the Del Puerto Water District, a member agency of the San Luis & Delta-Mendota Water Authority, which learned about the initial allocation on Feb. 25.

The water authority’s executive director, Federico Barajas, said in a statement that rainfall so far this year “has disproportionately fallen in the northern portion of the Central Valley Project, which has benefited water storage but has negatively impacted forecasted operations due to reduced San Joaquin River flows, thereby impacting Reclamation’s ability to make a higher initial allocation.”

In a statement, Reclamation, which manages the CVP, noted the allocation is more than double the initial allocation in 2024, a year with similar hydrology. In addition, the bureau announced a 100% allocation for north-of-delta agricultural water contractors. 

Bays said the 35% water allotment will not change his planting plans much. In addition to tree crops, he plans to grow a mix of row crops this year, including melons, processing tomatoes and lima beans. 

“Water use factors a little bit into it as far as what crop you’re going to grow,” he said. “With the current condition of the ag economy, a lot of it just depends on what we can get contracts for.”

With an oversupply of processing tomatoes in the state last year, Bays said canneries reduced contracts and acreage. The melon market has also been tough, he said, “with a lot of surplus last year.”

Lower-value crops such as lima beans are “in the queue, so we can pull the pin if we don’t have the water,” Bays added. 

Row crop choices remain limited, he said, especially with lower prices for corn, silage and other feeds grown for dairies.

“A lot of guys are looking for other options,” Bays said. 

Fresno County farmer Joe Del Bosque, who receives water from Westlands Water District, said he’s hopeful the 35% allocation will increase. 

A grower, packer and shipper of organic cantaloupes, honeydews and watermelons, Del Bosque said plans are underway for this season’s melon crop. 

“Timing of the (allocation) announcement is not as helpful as we’d like,” he said. “We’d like to know at the end of January because by February, we already have melons growing in the greenhouse.”

Del Bosque said he intends to start planting this month, with the process continuing until June. On the west side of the San Joaquin Valley, melon harvest usually runs from June to October. 

Aside from melons, he said processing tomatoes are already in the greenhouse, with transplants going in the ground starting in April. 

Del Bosque said the 35% water allocation for Westlands Water District irrigators is a “good starting point,” but he thinks it could have been more, noting that just weeks ago water was being released from Lake Shasta and dams in Northern California for flood control. 

Due to ecological concerns and protections for endangered species, there are constraints on moving water south through the delta. This leads to reduced pumping and water deliveries, which affect agricultural and municipal water supplies. 

“We need to be optimistic that they will be able to move water through the delta because there is water in the reservoirs and snowpack in the northern part of the state,” Del Bosque said. 

With a decent snowpack and full reservoirs, Bays said he is hopeful the bureau will increase the CVP allocation for south-of-delta water contractors. 

Lake Shasta, the CVP’s largest reservoir, was at 109% of average on March 10. San Luis Reservoir, a joint-use facility for federal and state water projects, was at 102% of average. 

Even with healthy reservoir water levels, California Department of Water Resources Director Karla Nemeth noted late last month that the California snowpack is below average. 

“Despite a good start to the snowpack in the Northern Sierra in November and December, we can look back as recently as 2013 and 2021 to show how quickly conditions can change for the drier,” she said, pointing out that the state “missed out on critical snow-building storms in January.” 

Based on the Jan. 31 DWR snow survey, the statewide snowpack is 65% of average for this date. 

For the State Water Project, DWR in late February increased the water allocation to 35% of requested water supplies, up from 20% in January. 

Water allocations are updated throughout the season with a final allocation generally determined in May or June.

Christine Souza is senior editor of Ag Alert. She may be contacted at csouza@cfbf.com.