SR0087014_SSNL - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

92 Part I California Water Table 2.3 Water use,revenues,and value of water by major crop categories,2005 Gross Gross Net Gross Irrigated revenues/ revenues/ Gross water water revenues acres gross water net water Crops M (%) (%) (%) ($/af) ($/af) Irrigated pasture 12 11 0.4 9 31 47 Rice 10 9 2 6 127 223 Corn 7 7 1 7 176 258 Alfalfa 18 18 4 12 200 287 Cotton 7 8 3 7 416 551 Other field crops 8 8 3 13 375 573 Fruits and nuts 27 29 44 30 1,401 1,875 Truck farming and horticulture 10 10 42 16 3,724 5,363 SOURCES:Authors'calculations using data provided by DWR staff.Revenue information draws on California Agricultural Statistics and county agricultural commissioner reports. NOTES:Gross water use=27.3 maf,net water use=18.9 maf;crop revenues from irrigated agriculture=$23.9 billion(2005$); irrigated crop acres(including multiple cropping)=9.2 million acres.In addition to field corn,corn acreage and water use includes some sweet corn,which is included in the value estimates for truck farming."Truck farming and horticulture'includes assorted vegetables,some fruits(e.g.,melons),flowers,and nursery products."Fruits and nuts"includes all fruit and nut tree crops plus berries. of net water used,whereas fruits and nuts (mostly tree crops) average close to $2,000/acre-foot. Within these aggregate categories, the values of some crops are much higher(e.g.,high-quality wine grapes sell for much more than table grapes or nuts),and these values also vary with world market conditions (e.g., rice and wheat prices have been higher in recent years because of drought in Australia and Russia,respectively).Also,some of the lowest-value crops(nota- bly pasture and alfalfa) are inputs into the state's meat and dairy production activities, which generate about a quarter of total agricultural revenues. But the general picture is one of striking contrasts, especially if one considers the volumes of water allocated to different commodities;irrigated pasture and all field crops combined accounted for 61 percent of net water use and only 14 per- cent of gross crop revenues. Although such simple comparisons do not reflect the complexities of needs for crop rotations and the use of low-value crops for high-value livestock,there still appears to be a considerable volume of low-value agricultural water use in an increasingly parched California.As discussed below,these low-value activi- ties potentially provide the state with some flexibility to cope with droughts