California growers coming up short on needed snow pack

California cotton growers are going into the new season with the smallest snow pack since 1990. Statewide, the snow pack is 46% of average, but the amount of available snow - which becomes water for irrigation and other uses - varies from one portion of the mountain range to the next. However, farmers in some water districts in the San Joaquin Valley are now finding out how much less water they'll likely have for this year's crops and to sustain permanent crops.

Some smaller irrigation districts may get little, if any, of their normal allotment. Some districts are delaying the release of water for irrigation until May 1.

State officials who monitor the snow pack say that there already is at least a good supply of water in reservoirs. But the supply situation in one part of the valley has been complicated by a ruling that 100,000 acre feet of water must be released in a program to restore wild salmon to that river.

"The tight water supply was a point that some farmers took into account when they finally decided not to raise cotton this year," says Vern Crawford, a PCA with Wilbur-Ellis Co. in Shafter in the southern SJV. "In the 40 years I've been working with some growers, this is the first year they won't have cotton. Some smaller districts in the next county might not get any water, we're being told, and my growers are in an area that may only receive 30% of what they ordered."

Warmer weather also is pushing against water availability. The snow pack was reduced by about half between the sampling period in early March and the sampling period in late March. Normally, the snow supply would not have diminished that much during the month. If the spring remains warm, more snow will melt, causing reservoirs in some locations to top off, which would lead to downstream discharges before the water is needed for irrigation.

This is turning into an odd start for the California crop on several fronts. Planting is off to an early start due to the warm weather, but the state's cotton acreage continues to decline. Friday's USDA planting intentions report indicated that California producers intend to plant 210,000 acres, the lowest since upland estimates began in 1941. They also intend to plant 250,000 acres of Pima, surpassing the upland acreage for the first time in history.

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