FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2016
VOLUME 89, NUMBER 9
WWW.CAPITALPRESS.COM
GROUNDWATER
Its burdens and
CRISIS its opportunities
Redding
The state has identified 21
groundwater basins considered
5
critically overdrafted. In accor-
dance with the Sustainable
80
Groundwater Management Act,
Sacramento
local public agencies are
tasked with achieving
Stockton
sustainable man-
San
Francisco
agement plans
by Jan. 31,
Fresno
2020.
Critically
overdrafted
groundwater
basins
5
Los Angeles
10
Source: California Dept.
of Water Resources
Alan Kenaga/Capital Press
W
40
15
San Diego
8
By TIM HEARDEN
Capital Press
hile some growers may see the emerg-
ing new state groundwater regulations
as a potential burden, Helm, Calif.,
farmer Don Cameron sees them as an
opportunity.
Few growers understand California’s ground-
water crisis better than Cameron, who farms al-
monds, walnuts and about two dozen other crops
on 7,000 acres on the north fork of the Kings
River in the San Joaquin Valley.
Cameron’s Terranova Ranch isn’t in an irriga-
tion district, so he relies entirely on groundwater
pumping. In 2011, he used a federal conservation
grant to start using fl ood water from the river to
replenish the aquifer beneath his sandy proper-
ty, and he hopes to someday fl ood as many as
16,000 acres during wet winters to recharge the
groundwater supply.
With the drought-related escalation of pump-
ing throughout the valley causing land to sink at
a historic rate, Cameron is concerned about the
future availability of the resource.
However, he believes the Sustainable Ground-
water Management Act — a package of laws en-
acted in 2014 to give local agencies sweeping
new controls over groundwater use — will create
momentum for more projects like his.
“We’re looking long-term,” Cameron said.
“Before the Sustainable Groundwater Manage-
ment Act passed, this was our goal — to try and
rebuild sustainable groundwater in our region.
Now with SGMA, it’s even more in the fore-
front. It can actually solve a lot of the issues we
have with groundwater pumping.”
By DAN WHEAT
Helm, Calif., almond grower Don Cameron.
Courtesy of Almond Board of California
A precious resource
Groundwater is the lifeblood of California ag-
riculture. In the almond industry alone, nearly 70
percent of farms normally rely on at least some
groundwater for irrigation, according to a 2014
survey by government agencies and the Almond
Board of California.
Turn to WATER, Page 12
Courtesy of Calif. Dept. of Water Resources
One of three new wells is being tested west of Bakersfi eld, Calif., in October as part of the Kern Water Bank Recharge and Recovery Enhancement Project. The groundwa-
ter at this well site will discharge into a connected underground pipeline, which pumps into the Kern Water Bank canal.
ELLENSBURG, Wash.
— A state attorney gener-
al’s investigation of WAFLA
advising growers on a wage
survey will not impede the
association’s ability to pro-
vide H-2A-visa foreign guest-
workers to growers this year,
but the U.S.
Department of
Labor might.
That’s what
Dan
Fazio,
WAFLA direc-
tor, said at the
organization’s
Fazio
annual
labor
conference at
Central Washington Univer-
sity in Ellensburg on Feb. 18.
DOL is supposed to act on
H-2A applications no fewer
than 30 days prior to the date
the workers are needed but
that is slipping to 15 days or
less, guaranteeing workers
will be late, Fazio said.
A half-dozen applications
for a total of about 1,000
workers, mainly for Washing-
ton tree fruit growers, are late
so far this season and there’s
“every indication it will
continue,” Fazio said. DOL
blames it on technical prob-
lems and lack of staff, he said.
Delays could play hav-
oc with the timely arrival of
some 15,000 workers from
Mexico on H-2A visas this
season to prune trees, thin
crops and pick fruit in Wash-
ington.
WAFLA, formerly known
as the Washington Farm La-
bor Association, is working
with DOL and members of
Congress to address the prob-
lem. DOL announced delays
in late January. WAFLA be-
gan experiencing them in ear-
ly February, Fazio said.
Because of the delays,
growers should make sure
their applications specify the
earliest possible date of need
and that they are fi led 75 days
prior to that date, Fazio said.
Last season, 433 workers
lost a combined 2,593 days
of work due to visa printing
problems at the border that
began in May and peaked in
June, according to WAFLA’s
2015 annual report.
The Obama administration
has been “very hostile” to the
H-2A program, Craig Regel-
brugge, senior vice president
of AmericanHort in Washing-
ton, D.C., said at the Wash-
ington Growers League annu-
al meeting in Yakima, Jan. 26.
Also at WAFLA’s Feb. 18
meeting, a letter from Fazio
to members was distributed
emphasizing the Washington
attorney general’s civil inves-
tigation into WAFLA advising
Turn to H2A, Page 12
Ag: Oregon wage hike will have big impact
By SEAN ELLIS
Capital Press
Ag interests say the three-
tiered plan to hike the state’s
minimum wage passed by the
Legislature is better than some
alternatives, but still will have
a big impact on growers and
processors.
Under the plan awaiting
Gov. Kate Brown’s signature,
in July Oregon’s minimum
wage will jump from $9.25 to
$9.75 statewide.
It will gradually climb to
$14.75 in 2022 in the Port-
land urban growth bound-
ary, which includes parts of
Multnomah, Washington and
Clackamas counties. It will
rise to $13.50 in Benton, Clat-
sop, Columbia, Deschutes,
Hood River, Jackson, Jose-
phine, Lane, Lincoln, Linn,
Marion, Polk, Tillamook,
Wasco and Yamhill coun-
ties, and parts of Multnomah,
Clackamas and Washington
counties outside Portland’s
urban growth boundary.
Turn to WAGE, Page 12
Sean Ellis/Capital Press
Farmers, onion processors and small business owners from Malheur
County oppose increases to Oregon’s minimum wage Jan. 14.
9-4/#5
50 miles
WAFLA
deals with
H-2A
slowdown,
AG probe
Capital Press
California’s
sinking problem
N
$2.00