Why a battle over groundwater has Californians boycotting carrots

By James On Oct 2, 2023

In the hills of a dry, remote stretch of farmland in California, Lee Harrington keeps a close eye on the drops that moisten his pistachio trees to make sure they don’t waste groundwater in a brutal fight.

He is one of dozens of farmers, ranchers and others living near the small town of New Cuyama who have been sued by a lawsuit brought by two of the nation’s largest carrot growers, Grimmway Farms and Bolthouse Farms , about the right to pump water. groundwater.

The move has saddled residents of the community 100 miles northwest of Los Angeles with mounting legal bills and prompted them to post large roadside signs urging others to boycott carrots and chant “Stand with Cuyama.”

“It is literally mind-boggling where they are farming,” Mr Harrington said, adding that his legal fees exceed $50,000. ‘They want our water. They didn’t want the state to tell them how much water they could pump.”

The battle unfolding in this part of rural California represents a new wave of legal challenges over water, long one of the most valuable and contentious resources in a state that grows much of the country’s produce.

For years, California did not regulate groundwater, allowing farmers and residents alike to drill wells and take what they needed. That changed in 2014, amid a historic drought, with increasingly deeper wells sinking land in some places.

A new state law required communities to create local groundwater sustainability agencies charged with developing plans, to be approved by the state, on how to manage their basins in the future. The basins with the largest overdrafts, including Cuyama, were among the first to do so with the aim of achieving sustainability by 2040. Other high and medium priority basins followed.

But disputes arose in Cuyama and elsewhere, leading to a series of lawsuits that have brought entire communities to court so property owners can defend their rights to the resources beneath their feet. In the Oxnard and Pleasant Valley basins, growers have filed a lawsuit over a lack of consensus on pump allocations. In San Diego County, a water district filed a lawsuit that was settled about a year later.

It is a foretaste of what could happen if more regions impose stricter rules on groundwater.

The lawsuit in Cuyama, which relies on groundwater for its water supply, has affected every part of a community where cell phone service is poor and people take pride in knowing their neighbors.

The school secretary is also a bus driver and a vegetable grower also offers horseshoeing services. There’s a small market, a hardware store, a western-themed boutique hotel and miles of land dotted with olives, pistachios, grapes and carrots.

From the beginning, Grimmway and Bolthouse participated in the formation of the local groundwater sustainability agency and plan.

Their farms are in the part of the watershed where the overdraft is highest, and both companies say they are following the allocated cuts. But they think other farmers will get permits and want the courts to come up with a fairer solution to reduce pumping across the basin, not just on their plots.

“I don’t want the aquifer to be dewatered because then I just have a piece of gravel and no water, which means it’s desert land, which has no value to anyone,” said Dan Clifford, vice president and general counsel of Bolthouse Land Co. “What we are trying to achieve is the sustainability of the pool, with the understanding that you get a judge who calls balls and strokes.”

Grimmway, which has been growing carrots in Cuyama for more than 30 years, currently farms less than a third of the 30 square kilometers there and has installed more efficient sprinklers to save water. Seeing groundwater levels dropping and pumping costs rising, the company began growing roots in other states but has no plans to uproot from Cuyama, said Jeff Huckaby, the company’s president and CEO.

“It’s one of the best carrot growing areas we’ve come across,” Mr Huckaby said, adding that arid areas are best so carrot roots extend underground for moisture and grow longer. “The soil here is ideal, the temperatures are ideal, the climate is ideal.”

California used to be a “Wild West” for water, but that is changing. The company has reduced its water use in Cuyama and hopes to stay there for decades, he said.

Until the lawsuit, 42-year-old rancher Jake Furstenfeld said he thought the companies worked with people in the city, but not anymore.

Mr. Furstenfeld, a member of a groundwater agency advisory committee, owns no land and has no attorney. But he is helping organize the boycott and has been handing out yard signs.

“It’s called David versus Goliath,” he said.

Many residents worry about the water they need to brush their teeth, wash clothes and grow a garden. The water district that serves homes in the city said rates are increasing to cover legal costs. The school district, trying to stay afloat so its 185 students can attend school locally, is saddled with unexpected legal bills.

“Without water we don’t have a school,” said Alfonso Gamino, the superintendent and director. “If the pool dries up, I can see Bolthouse and Grimmway going somewhere else, but what about the rest of us?”

Before the state’s groundwater law, most groundwater lawsuits were filed in Southern California, where development put additional pressure on water supplies. Legal experts now expect more cases in areas where farmers are forced to reduce pumping.

“For an average person or a small user, it’s disruptive because most people aren’t involved in lawsuits,” said Eric Garner, a water rights attorney who has worked on California law. “For large pump companies, lawyers are a cheap option compared to replacing their water supply.”

Most of the nation’s carrots are grown in California, with consumers demanding a year-round supply of popular baby carrots. The state’s climate is prime for growing, and carrots are among the top 10 agricultural commodities in California, worth $1.1 billion last year, state statistics show.

Along the highway, Grimmway’s fields are watered with sprinklers for eight hours and dried for two weeks, allowing the roots to stretch out in search of moisture. Critics question the companies’ use of daytime sprinklers, but Huckaby said Grimmway uses far less water than the alfalfa grower who previously grew there.

The Cuyama lawsuit, filed two years ago, will have its first hearing in January. In a recent twist, Bolthouse Farms has asked to withdraw as a plaintiff, saying the company has no water rights as a tenant grower and plans to reduce its water use by 65% by 2040. The company that owns the land, Bolthouse Land Co., is still litigating.