The state’s $1-billion annual cotton crop
This year, rice production in California fell by 20 per cent, cotton was down 32 per cent and 170,000 hectares of farmland were fallowed, putting more than 6,000 farm labourers out of work. Revenue losses and the higher expenses of pumping water cost the state $2.2-billion (U.S.).
It could get worse next year.
In a recent report, the Association of California Water Agencies warned “a dry 2015 would have disastrous consequences,” which could include the complete failure of the state’s $1-billion annual cotton crop; the death of 20,000 hectares of citrus trees and the exodus from the state of non-farm businesses that rely heavily on water.
“Hundreds of thousands of acres of annual and permanent crops throughout the state would be idled,” the report says. “For consumers it means loss of jobs and higher prices for food and other products. It also means less locally produced food, which affects food security and our carbon footprint.”
Mr. Mansfield said while California’s loss of productivity will be felt across North America, B.C. is particularly vulnerable because of a shift in the province to imported produce. B.C.’s vegetable production fell more than 20 per cent between 1991 and 2011. Currently, more than 67 per cent of all B.C. vegetable imports come from the United States, with more than half that coming from California.
“We’ve seen a decline of [B.C.] staple crops in the past 20 years,” he said. “We’ve more or less stopped growing the crops we are now reliant on California for. … We are importing from California when we could be producing it ourselves.”
Broccoli, lettuce, strawberries and other crops that used to be grown in B.C. for consumption there are now largely imported from south of the border.