The Sustainable Groundwater Management Act challenges the diversity of California farms

Abstract

Outlook The Sustainable Groundwater Management Act challenges the diversity of California farms Jessica Rudnick, Ph.D. student, Department of Environmental Science and Policy, UC Davis Alyssa DeVincentis, Ph.D. student, Department of Land, Air and Water Resources, UC Davis Linda Esteli Mendez-Barrientos, Ph.D. student, Department of Environmental Science and Policy, UC Davis C alifornia’s agricultural sector, a major ground- water user, finds itself in the midst of the im- plementation of the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA). The law mandates the formation of local ground- water sustainability agencies (GSAs) and adoption of groundwater sustainability plans (GSPs) for all overdrafted groundwater basins across the state by 2020. Each GSA will be unique, with its own gover- nance structures and rules, including the size and composition of the governing board, mechanisms for representing different interests, opportunities for stakeholders to participate, and rules concerning the allocation of pumping “rights” and the use of eco- nomic instruments, such as pumping permits, pump- ing taxes or tiered pricing, to incentivize pumping curtailments (DWR 2016). This new water management landscape may threaten the diversity of the state’s farming operations Farm diversity — in size, as a proxy for resources and capacity — has been shown to foster innovation, increase stability and resilience under changing cli- mate conditions, and facilitate building knowledge and human capital to support future generations of farmers (Brummer 1998; Davidson 2016; Ericksen et al. 2009; Foley 2011). Farms of all scales will be required to comply with SGMA and the management plans established by their local GSAs; however, farms of different scales have varying human and financial resources. As such, compliance with SGMA requirements is likely to be manageable for some growers but severely burden- some for others. Unless GSAs explicitly address this equity concern and consider all growers’ water needs during the planning and implementation phases of SGMA, the law will threaten the future of the state’s agricultural diversity. Tomato field irrigated with well water. Russell Ranch, UC Davis. Farm scale and SGMA Will Suckow In April, the authors and other graduate students in the National Science Foundation Climate Change, Water and Society Integrated Graduate Education http://calag.ucanr.edu • OCTOBER–DECEMBER 2016 169