West Coast Observer: Del Bosque Farms and Water

By William Silveira

After the publication of my observation (“American Hypocrisy”) on Alfredo Corchado’s article in the New York Times, “A Former Farm Worker on American Hypocrisy,” I decided to do some research on Del Bosque Farms, and I found a very interesting post regarding that company on a website sponsored by the American Farmlands Trust, an organization in the United States that works to protect and conserve farmland.

    As I suspected from Corchado's article, Del Bosque Farms are indeed located in west Fresno County and are facing big water-shortage problems. I don't know whether it’s in the Westlands Water District, but if not, it is close by. The manager of the district is Johnny Amaral, former office manager for (and still a very good friend of) Congressman Devin Nunes. The Westlands Water District is perennially seeking water from the California State Water Project (and from the federal portion of that project) to supply farms on the west side of Nunes’ district with water.

    Those farms have mined (through pumping) most of the underground water and now want more surface water. The application of irrigation water to farms out there have created environmental problems (which have allegedly been addressed). The soils underlying much of the district have an impenetrable barrier of hard clay lying below the surface of the farmed soils. The water applied to the soils picks up various minerals (selenium is the most dangerous). The run off from the irrigation water is then collected in ponds, which pose a danger to wild fowl. (Many wild birds have been seen with serious deformities caused by the selenium.). Nunes and the farmers claim to have addressed and mitigated these problems.
    I personally believe that climate change has ushered in a long-term drought here, and in all of California except the extreme far north of the state. How much longer can farms like Del Bosque’s continue to operate?

Copyright © 2020 by William Silveira