[env-trinity] Fresno Bee Opinion: "Westlands's new front group hides farmworker reality" and response from Johnny Amaral, WWD

[Tom Stokely]

OPINION COLUMNS & BLOGSJANUARY 21, 2016 6:55 AMAmanda Ford and Janaki Jagannath: Westlands’ new front group hides farmworker realityFarmworker communities experience truly perverse inequities with respect to access to waterWestlands Water District is home to among not only the poorest, but also the thirstiest, people in the stateWorkers cannot use agricultural irrigation water for bathing, drinking or cooking
BY AMANDA FORD AND JANAKI JAGANNATH
The New York Times recently reported and The Bee reprinted that the Westlands Water District has five lobbying firms under contract in Sacramento and Washington, D.C., and a massive public relations budget to lobby for more taxpayer-subsidized water and to weaken laws that protect imperiled fish and wildlife.Westlands also has a new front group – one masquerading as a voice for Latino residents who champion more water for Westlands’ agribusiness giants. The campaign is called El Agua Es Asunto de Todos (Water Is Everybody’s Business). Westlands has already put $1.1 million into El Agua promotions and reportedly pays its $14,000-per-month operating expenses. Working through firms in New York and California, El Agua has saturated Spanish-language media in California with pleas for more water for these industrial irrigators, claiming it will lift farmworkers out of poverty.But the El Agua campaign is a distraction from the truly perverse inequities farmworker communities experience with respect to access to water.The stark reality is that the Westlands Water District is home to among not only the poorest, but also the thirstiest, people in the state. Residents of the small farmworker communities located just feet away from heavily irrigated fields are being used by Westlands for the El Agua campaign though they do not have access to safe, clean and affordable domestic water. Residents least able to do so must pay some of the highest (and least transparent) water rates in the nation right back into Westlands’ pocket!These workers cannot use agricultural irrigation water for bathing, drinking or cooking. Increasing agricultural allocations would support agricultural business, while quality of life for farmworkers is on the decline.In the farmworker communities of Cantua Creek and El Porvenir, which the state considers among the most vulnerable water systems in the state, taxpayers subsidize Westlands’ lowest income water recipients by providing residents a monthly delivery of state-funded bottled drinking water. The water provided by Westlands is contaminated by industrial agricultural byproducts and priced beyond reach. The trickle-down theory does not work for these residents.Westlands Water District is the nation’s largest agricultural irrigation contractor, controlled by some of the nation’s richest and most politically savvy corporate farmers. The district serves more than 1,000 square miles of arid land in western Fresno and Kings counties. Some 350 vertically integrated operations consume 1.5 times the volume of water needed to serve Los Angeles. As the subsidized water flow has been cut back during the drought, Westlands’ irrigators have fallowed some fields, while intensifying the already alarming overdraft of groundwater, leading to the permanent loss of groundwater storage capacity, to grow what includes ever increasing acres of permanent tree crops, largely for export.Westlands’ funding of El Agua was part of an unsuccessful lobbying effort in Congress last year to weaken laws and regulations that protect fish and wildlife in California waters that are exported to Southern San Joaquin Valley farms through the taxpayer-funded Central Valley Project. The battle has renewed since Congress returned this year. Threatening consequences at the ballot box, El Agua has urged the State Water Board to ignore public trust needs and send more water south of the delta.Yet, since the drought hit California in 2012, Westlands farmers have added more than 18,000 acres of thirsty, but high-value, nut trees. They replaced crops such as garlic and tomatoes that can be fallowed in periods of drought with perennial orchards that require constant watering and are highly mechanized, thereby increasing the demand for water and reducing the demand for field laborers.As drought conditions worsened in California, the state Department of Water Resources and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation continued to ship water south of the delta for export through the state and federal water projects. As a result, we’ve seen a collapse of delta fisheries, increasing water toxicity and invasive species.Water continues to flow toward larger and more intensive agricultural users rather than to the human beings who work the fields and whose health and safety are at once dependent on and threatened by it.Westlands and other south-of-the-delta exporters have reported record incomes during the drought. So why did these industrial giants not reallocate some of the millions they spent on lobbying and public relations to assist the thousands of farmworkers who have faced drought-related job-losses, unsafe and unaffordable domestic water, and homelessness?They prefer to install Astroturf. It can pass for the real thing and fake grass roots don’t require any water at all.Rev. Amanda Ford and Janaki Jagannath are with The Environmental Justice Coalition for Water, a statewide coalition of grass-roots groups and intermediary organizations advocating for clean, safe and affordable water for all.

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Read more here: http://www.fresnobee.com/opinion/opn-columns-blogs/article55703060.html#storylink=cp |


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VALLEY VOICESFEBRUARY 3, 2016 8:00 AMJohnny Amaral: Let’s work together to protect California agricultureSome activists would rather eliminate farming in San Joaquin Valley than solve water problemsWestlands farmers eager to grow nation’s and world’s food, help farmworkers prosperGrowers, in concert with university researchers, are on cutting edge of water technology and efficiency"Gallery pre-roll turned off as page level is: blog . Must be: gallery"
Irrigated fields in Westlands Water District border Interstate 5 and the Diablo Range west of Tranquility on June 12, 2015. Westlands is the nation’s largest agricultural water district. DAMON WINTER The New York TimesBY JOHNNY AMARAL
As a lifelong resident of the Central Valley, I was first dismayed, and then outraged, upon reading the recent commentary in The Bee from two self-proclaimed activists for clean, safe and affordable water.Make no mistake. Their mission is not to protect farmworkers or to promote a water solution. It is to demonize the family farms on the West Side in an effort to eliminate farming in the San Joaquin Valley. California policymakers need to reject their divisive agenda and work together to improve the lives of the people that live and work in this region.At Westlands Water District, our farmers are eager to embrace solutions that will enable us to grow more of the nation’s and the world’s food and help farmworkers prosper. For years, we have advocated for policies to bring balance to the way water is delivered, so that people, farms and the environment get water. Most recently, Westlands supported legislation in Congress that would have brought much-needed reliability to the operation of the Delta pumps, while not violating the Endangered Species Act. We will proudly continue to do so.WESTLANDS FAMILY FARMERS HAVE MADE HUGE INVESTMENTS TO MAKE THEIR PRODUCTION MORE EFFICIENT AND ENVIRONMENTALLY SENSITIVE, MUCH MORE THAN ANY OTHER REGION IN THE WORLD.The activists’ concern for the “perverse inequities” relating to access to water is itself perverse. Rather than helping farmworkers, these groups advocate for water policies that take farm jobs away. They ignore the impact their policies have on local businesses and fail to recognize that unemployment in agriculture creates many problems for local government, including the ability to provide needed services to the lowest-income families.These groups do not want to admit that their political agenda is in part responsible for the high levels of unemployment and poverty. By demonizing farmers, it is easy to advocate for reducing water to farms; it is much harder to look into the eyes of the families whose livelihoods depend on farming and tell them they no longer have jobs.These “hit-and-run” political tactics are in stark contrast to efforts by Westlands farmers, community groups, and local, state and federal officials who are working on solutions. There is agreement that California communities, including those in the San Joaquin Valley, need a more stable source of water. We need improved infrastructure, the ability to capture water during periods of heavy rain and increased storage. Those tangible goals can help us weather drought and provide the means to get reliable water allocations that help all of us: farms, businesses, cities and farmworkers.Local farmers grow a host of products – yes, including almonds – that keep jobs and the agriculture industry viable during years when water allocations are withheld. It’s disingenuous to claim to support farming that produces “acceptable” crops such as garlic and tomatoes but then advocate for federal and state water policies that prevent farmers from growing those crops.It’s irresponsible to advocate for less water to farms without addressing how the lost agricultural production will be handled. Presumably, they are willing to send the agricultural jobs and production outside of California, despite the devastating impact that would have on our local economy and our families.Westlands family farmers have made huge investments to make their production more efficient and environmentally sensitive, much more than any other region in the world. In fact, many of the advances in irrigation technology and efficiency were born here.We have the finest research institutions in the California State University and University of California systems, providing cutting-edge water conservation technologies and farm production innovations. It’s that cooperation that provides the world with new methods of farming and water management – a success that should be protected, not chased out of state.It makes no sense to position our serious drought-related situation as “fish vs. farming,” as if the two are mutually exclusive. Those of us who live in the San Joaquin Valley know that water policies over the last 10 years have devastated not only our agriculture-dependent local economy. Ironically, in what feels like the ultimate case of adding insult to injury, they have also resulted in near extinction of several fish populations.IT’S DISINGENUOUS TO CLAIM TO SUPPORT FARMING THAT PRODUCES “ACCEPTABLE” CROPS SUCH AS GARLIC AND TOMATOES BUT THEN ADVOCATE FOR FEDERAL AND STATE WATER POLICIES THAT PREVENT FARMERS FROM GROWING THOSE CROPS.During this decade of “biological experimentation,” Westlands farmers have routinely received a zero allocation. Despite the misleading claims, there is no water that is “flowing toward larger and more intensive agricultural users.”But blaming farmers, rather than government policies, fits their political agenda. Their cynical strategy to divide keeps elected officials from agreeing on a water-management compromise. Perhaps if the so-called advocates spent more time helping to change the laws and regulations that starve the Valley of water, there would be an affordable, abundant water supply for the people they claim to care about.Farming is a way of life for many in our community. We need to continue to work with our elected officials and responsible groups seeking solutions. And, we need to step up our efforts to expose misinformation campaigns designed to eliminate farming.Johnny Amaral is deputy general manager of Westlands Water District, the largest agricultural water district in the United States.


Read more here: Johnny Amaral: Let’s work together to protect California agriculture
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