California Farmers Being Paid NOT To Grow Crops

BLYTHE, CALIF: Agricultural fields spread out across the Palo Verde Valley in Blythe. The Metropolitan Water District is working with local growers lto leave some of their fields fallow in exchange for cash payments.

The desert agricultural industry in Blythe draws water from the nearby Colorado River, and the goal is for farmers to use less river water and allow unused supplies to serve the needs of people in urban areas downstream.

Agricultural fields lie across the Palo Verde Valley in Blythe, Calif. The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California is working with local growers to leave some fields fallow in exchange for cash payments.

By Ian James (https://news.yahoo.com/)

*Link to full article: https://news.yahoo.com/drought-worsens-california-farmers-being-130059812.html

Green fields of alfalfa and cotton rolled past as Brad Robinson drove through the desert valley where his family has farmed with water from the Colorado River for three generations. Stopping the truck, he stepped onto a dry, brown field where shriveled remnants of alfalfa crunched under his boots.

The water has been temporarily shut off on a portion of Robinson’s land. In exchange, he’s receiving $909 this year for each acre of farmland left dry and unplanted. The water is instead staying in Lake Mead, near Las Vegas, to help slow the unrelenting decline of the largest reservoir in the country.

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