The passage of the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) in 2014 started California’s first steps toward sustainable management of our critical groundwater resources. Groundwater, the water pumped from underground wells, makes up 40-60% of California’s annual water usage, the rest coming from snowmelt and surface water. Reliable groundwater access is critical for drinking water supplies, healthy ecosystems, and the success of small farms and agricultural production around the state.
2024 marks ten years since Governor Brown signed the legislation that created SGMA and it also marks the beginning of CAFF’s SGMA and Small Farms Program. Funded by the Department of Water Resources, we are excited to be collaborating with the Water Foundation, UC ANR Small Farms Network, UC Davis Law School, and Dudek Engineering on groundwater education, outreach, and technical assistance for small-scale and underserved farmers.
As detailed in the 2022 report SGMA and Underrepresented Farmers, small farms and their unique needs are often not captured in Groundwater Sustainability Plans. The challenges that small farms face include the shallow depth of their irrigation wells, lack of financial means to dig deeper wells, leased instead of owned land, and technological, language, or social barriers to accessing the Groundwater Sustainability Agencies that create local plans for groundwater.
With this new program, CAFF aims to uplift the voices of and offer direct support to small-scale, limited-resource, women-owned, beginning, and underserved farmers. CAFF is sharing this work with the UC ANR Small Farms Network. UC ANR will be covering the San Joaquin Valley with additional coverage in Santa Clara and Riverside Counties. To start, CAFF is focusing on the Sacramento Valley up to Tehama, Salinas Valley including Paso Robles, San Luis Obispo Valley, Sonoma County, and Cuyama Valley. If you are outside of these regions and need support, please reach out to CAFF so that we can include you in outreach efforts moving forward.
Alongside UC ANR, the goals of our SGMA and Small Farms Program include:
- Analyzing risks, barriers, and opportunities for small and underserved farmers in local Groundwater Sustainability Plans
- Mapping small farms at risk from SGMA implementation
- Educating farmers on what the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act is, how it may impact their wells and groundwater access, and what changes may be coming to their region
- Facilitating meetings between local Groundwater Sustainability Agencies and farmers
- Supporting the development of legal resources for small and underserved farmers at UC Davis Law School, particularly for groundwater adjudication cases
- Connecting underserved farmers with Dudek’s technical engineering resources for groundwater level monitoring, analysis of well interference, and more
- Creating tools for Groundwater Sustainability Agencies and the Department of Water Resources to better understand the needs of small and underserved farmers
CAFF’s Ongoing Water Work
As noted in CAFF’s 2024 Policy Platform, access to water is a key issue for California’s local food producers and is one of CAFF’s top priorities for current and future legislative cycles. In addition to the SGMA and Small Farms Program, CAFF is working with the California Sustainable Winegrowing Alliance on research, network building, and outreach for dry farming wine grapes. We continue to coordinate the California Agricultural Water Stewardship Initiative (CAWSI) and are excited to be updating this website and its resources in the year ahead. At the state level, CAFF remains engaged in policy advocacy for bills that impact small farms’ water access and sustainable water management.
Questions, thoughts, ideas? Reach out to us at sgma@caff.org or call us at (559) 424-3667.