It's Only Getting Worse: California Farmers Consider Historic Cuts

NPR

Published May 22, 2015 at 10:06 AM PDT

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Farmer Joe Del Bosque (L) talks with a worker on April 23, 2015 in Firebaugh, California. As California enters its fourth year of severe drought, farmers in the Central Valley are struggling to keep their crops watered and many have opted to leave acres of the fields fallow. ( Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Some farmers in California are considering a deal that would have been unthinkable just a few years ago. Farmers who have water rights dating back as far as the Gold Rush era have been able to hold onto their water shares, even when others have been forced to give up theirs.

But a group of these farmers in the fertile Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta is worried that regulators will take their water this year, so they’ve offered the state a deal. They will voluntarily give up 25 percent of their water now if the state will promise not to take any more this year.

Here & Now’s Meghna Chakrabarti talks with KQED reporter Dan Brekke about the deal that could be a model for farmers all across the state.

Guest

Dan Brekke, reporter at KQED. He tweets @danbrekke.