 November 6, 2015 CapitalPress.com 11 California Subscribe to our weekly California email newsletter at CapitalPress.com/newsletters Study: Flood farms to recharge aquifers By TIM HEARDEN Capital Press SACRAMENTO — Another study is suggesting that rainwater from this year’s anticipated wet winter be captured and used to flood farmland to replenish aquifers. Research commissioned by the California Water Foundation con- cludes that flushing water through the most porous soils could curb groundwater overdraft on the San Joaquin Valley’s east side by be- tween 12 percent and 20 percent each year. State water experts blame the overdraft for causing land in the val- ley to sink at historic rates. A recent National Aeronautics and Space Administration study showed land in the valley is sinking by nearly 2 inches per month in some places. “Our study area focused in on a three-county area — Merced, Made- ra and Fresno counties,” said Andrew Fahlund, the water foundation’s dep- uty director. “We really found we could make a significant contribution to groundwater recharge through this method of spreading water on irri- gated farmland.” Courtesy of Calif. Department. of Water Resources A bridge over the Delta-Mendota Canal in Firebaugh, Calif., in the western San Joaquin Valley nearly touches the water because of subsidence of land caused by groundwater pumping. A California Water Foundation study asserts flooding farmland to recharge aquifers could curb subsidence by as much as 20 percent. The research, conducted by RMC Engineering, was separate from the work being done by scientists An- thonty O’Geen and Helen Dahlke of the University of California’s Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources. This summer, the two researchers proposed using some of the state’s 3.6 million acres of farms and ranches with suitable topography and soil conditions to recharge aqui- fers during winter months. Dahlke is still conducting field experiments to evaluate how much water can be re- charged in a couple of weeks. The water foundation study sug- gests diverting excess river flows from winter storms to active farm- land. While excess flows aren’t available every year, an average of 80,000 to 130,000 acre-feet per year could be diverted to farmland suit- able for recharge, the foundation asserts. While additional research is be- ing done to make sure such a project wouldn’t affect the productivity of land or crops, some farm groups are showing interest in the techniques. “Almond growers are committed to finding innovation solutions that contribute to environmental sustain- ability,” Almond Board of California president and chief executive officer Richard Waycott said in a statement. The foundation — a nonprofit group aimed at achieving a sustain- able water supply in California — is urging President Barack Obama’s administration and Congress to en- sure that money from federal pro- grams can be used for such ground- water-recharge projects, a news release explained. “I think there is an increased in- terest in seeing how to accelerate this in practice, but it requires ... the cooperation of landowners and a level of comfort and trust that hope- fully studies like this can provide,” Fahlund said. “I think we’ll see increasing numbers of additional studies, tests and pilot projects that could really give producers a level of comfort that this isn’t going to harm their operations and could really en- hance them through greater water security.” New UC endowments to fund ongoing pistachio research By TIM HEARDEN Capital Press University of California leaders have joined a pista- chio group in setting up the first of what officials hope will be many endowments to provide ongoing funding for agricultural research. The UC and the Califor- nia Pistachio Research Board have established two endowed chairs of $1 million each, the accrued interest from which will be used over the next five years for studies on tree nut genetics, soil science and plant-water relations. Glenda Humiston, the UC’s vice president for agri- culture and natural resources, said she’s having discussions with several other groups to set up similar funding streams for other areas of agriculture. In each case, a private group would provide half the fund- ing. “This is a form of funding that is crucial as we move for- ward,” Humiston told a gath- ering Oct. 29 at the UC’s Ke- arney Agricultural Research and Extension Center in Parli- er, Calif. The announcement was streamed online. “We’ve seen the volatility of funding in past years” as state and federal budgets fluc- tuate, she said. “This brings a little stability to funding.” Endowed chairs are fix- tures at Harvard University and other top institutions as a way to fund specific types of medical and other research. UC President Janet Napoli- tano announced last year that she would seek endowment partners for all of the univer- sity’s campuses and for Coop- erative Extension. The pistachio research board was established in 2007 and has used grower assess- ments to donate about $4.5 million for research so far, said Tom Coleman, a Fres- no County grower and the board’s chairman. “The pistachio industry be- ing new has been very unique in my involvement in that oth- er growers want to help every other grower out there,” Cole- man told the gathering. “I’ve had a couple of issues in my career when I couldn’t figure out what the problem was, and I had people just show up at my ranch ... to help me Courtesy of UCANR Glenda Humiston, the University of California’s vice president for agriculture and natural resources, announces a pair of research endowments Oct. 29 at the UC’s Kearney Agricultural Research and Extension Center in Parlier, Calif. out.” Pistachios were introduced in California in the 1930s as part of a U.S. Department of Agriculture crop program, and the region’s first commer- cial growers started producing pistachios in the late 1960s and early 1970s, research board manager Bob Klein ex- plained. There are now more than 225,000 bearing acres and more than 300,000 total acres of pistachios in California, mostly growing in the San Joaquin Valley, Klein said. The endowments come as this year’s pistachio yields were lighter than expected as some growers encountered more empty shells than nor- mal because of the drought and a lack of chilling hours last winter. Growers expect the yields to total about half of last year’s, when 520 million pounds of pistachios were produced. 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