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Making the transition from open-access groundwater rights to sustainable groundwater management is a formidable task for newly formed groundwater sustainability agencies in California. As agencies begin to decide how to make equitable water allocations, how to monitor groundwater use and what mix of supply- and demand-side mechanisms to adopt to satisfy sustainability criteria, the groundwater management strategies in place across other basins in the western United States are worth studying. We surveyed 18 groundwater districts in California and other Western states to identify the management approaches and practices they have instituted. The conclusions we draw suggest a correlative rights framework of water allocation with phase-ins for heavy users; metered pumping; flexible arrangements for trading and carrying over allocations for multiple years; and incentivizing groundwater recharge, including recharge from deep percolation from crops. Rigid formulas for significantly reducing groundwater use in medium- and high-priority basins are likely to have significant negative effects on the regional economy.

Early detection and rapid response are crucial in any effort to reduce the risk of new and emerging biological threats to crops and other plant resources. This underscores the importance of having the necessary diagnostic expertise, infrastructure and resources in place. Three programs — the National Plant Diagnostic Network, the National Clean Plant Network and the Citrus Clonal Protection Program — illustrate how accurate and rapid diagnosis plays a critical role in providing healthy plants for growers and in securing production systems for food and fiber. These three programs depend on statewide, regional and national networking among university, state and federal scientists, regulatory officials and industry members to help mitigate the impacts of plant pests and diseases.

The California wine industry has been in the midst of a prolonged boom for more than 30 years. In 1975, California was home to approximately 330 wineries; by 2006 there were nearly 2,500. There has been a dramatic shift in demand toward higher priced and higher quality table wines, as reflected in the total revenues and crush shares of the state's four major growing regions. We examine the major trends in the California wine-grape industry over the last 30 years, specifically differences that are arising between the coastal and inland growing regions and migration of the various wine-grape varieties grown throughout the state.

Infectious animal diseases are an ever-present threat to intensive livestock production. We analyzed control technology for foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) in a livestock-intensive region of the Central Valley, using a previously developed, numerical, optimal disease-control model. We found that the alternative FMD controls we studied (early detection, herd depopulation and vaccination) can be partially substituted for one another (substitutability) without substantially changing outbreak costs. This information can be used to develop effective and efficient policies to prepare for an FMD outbreak in California.

Agricultural management has a significant impact on the amount of greenhouse gases emitted by cropped fields. Alternative practices such as winter cover cropping and avoiding overfertilization can decrease the total amount of greenhouse gases that are produced. Policymakers are considering a structure in which parties (such as factories) who exceed their greenhouse-gas emissions cap can pay incentives to encourage farmers to adopt practices that curb greenhouse gases. Based on data from field studies and an ecosystem computer model, we assessed impacts on yields and the total potential for reducing greenhouse-gas emissions of certain alternative practices in California.

Carbon sequestration in agricultural land has been studied over the past few years to determine its potential for ameliorating climate change, Agricultural soils can be efficiently exploited as carbon sinks with a variety of techniques, such as reduced tillage, cover cropping and organic systems with better manure management. However, to fully understand the potential of carbon sequestration in agriculture, the economic costs of switching from conventional to conservation management must be estimated. Since carbon sequestration depends heavily on management, crop and soil type, we conducted a field-level survey of its economic aspects in Yolo County for the 2005 growing season. The survey showed that organic and conservation management can be more profitable for field crops than conventional management in Yolo County. Finall, we demonstrated how to combine the survey data with an agronomic process model to predict the rate of adoption for conservation techniques in response to carbon payments.

In the Sacramento Valley, irrigation water is vital to agriculture and agriculture is vital to local economies. This study investigates these relationships by asking: If surface irrigation water were cut by 25%, what would be the economic impacts on farmers and on communities? The study results indicate that the effects would not be uniform across crops and the eight counties in the Sacramento Valley. In most regions and for most crops, a cut in irrigation water would cause a modest acreage reduction of up to 3%. Overall crop-revenue losses for core regions would total $8 million while the loss for the entire Sacramento Valley would be $11 million. About 80% of those losses would take place in poorer counties that depend most heavily on agriculture, and particularly on rice. However, in response to surface-water reductions, farmers and others would mitigate their losses by making adjustments such as conserving water, changing cropping patterns or implementing new technologies.

The term “hydraulic society” describes the ancient cities and social systems that relied on irrigated agriculture, such as Egypt's Nile Valley. For 5,000 years, the annual cycle of floods replenished the Nile region's soil and nutrients, eliminating the need for complex canal systems such as those found in the Sumerian and Mesopotamian regions. California is the first hydraulic society that is rapidly developing into a postindustrial economy; this change will require the partial re-allocation of our water resources. California should attempt to move toward a decentralized, resilient “ancient Egyptian” model of water allocation rather than continue with a centralized but less responsive “Mesopotamian” model. A hydraulic society can be destabilized by drought conditions, degradation of water quality, and the inability of distribution systems to adapt to social or economic changes. Although hydraulic societies are ecologically unstable due to their modification and specialization of the ecosystem, changing the system of social feedback can compensate for this rigidity.

In contrast to projections that drought-related farm losses could climb to several billion dollars this year, a UC model predicts actual losses will be $647 million - largely due to the cushioning effect of a projected 70% increase in ground water pumping. The most significant economic impact will be felt in the South San Joaquin Valley, and along the Coast. Consumers will pay $220 million more for produce at the farm gate-an amount that may be magnified two or three times at the retail market. On page 6, the author and a colleague outline a scenario for ground water banking. They propose incentives to encourage ground water “savings” during wet and normal years — deposits to a “water bank account” which can be withdrawn in droughts

Experience with the last major drought in 1976-1977 shows that increased ground water pumping was the critical factor in avoideing economic hardship to farmers and consumers. However, the increse in pumping came with an equally large increase in ground water overdrafts. Such flexibility in water use in the future can only be maintained if ground water is recharged in normal years.

Changing starting date of water contract year to March 1 from January 1 could avoid ‘use it or lose it’ situations