Abstract:
The Pajaro and lower Salinas Valleys on the central coast of California, support a multi-billion vegetable and berry specialty crop industry. Cool coastal climate and a long growing season allow for multiple crop cycles and remarkably high productivity in a relatively small farmable area. The region's agriculture industry is almost entirely reliant on groundwater supply, and at the same time suffers from persistent groundwater overdraft and seawater intrusion, which are aggravated by drought and weather extremes associated to climate change. In 2017 about 7500 acres of strawberry were planted in the Watsonville- Salinas district and produced a crop value of $900M (Source: California Strawberry Commission). The substantial irrigation requirements of the crops grown in the area, combined with the critical aquifer overdraft, seawater intrusion and the drought that affected California in the past years have caused concern about the long?term sustainability of this industry. In this context, water conservation is paramount and incentives to encourage growers to conserve water have been developed. |
