Local growers forced to abandon orchards due to water concerns

FRESNO COUNTY, Calif. (KFSN) -- This week marked the start of a new water year in which precipitation is measured.

Valley reservoirs are showing much lower levels following a summer of water deliveries to different communities.

But some farmers had hoped for more.

"It's been a fairly good water year after a very strong water year last year and yet farmers on the west side are receiving 50% allocation," said Ryan Jacobsen, the CEO of the Fresno County Farm Bureau.

As a result, some orchards had to be abandoned and many farmers weren't able to grow as much crop as they had hoped.

"On our farm alone, we fallowed 1200 acres this year because we didn't get water allocations in a timely manner where we could put that water to beneficial use," said said Aaron Barcellos with A-Bar Ag Enterprises.

"What that means is that's 1200 acres out of production that doesn't support our local business."

Fourth-generation farmer Aaron Barcellos grows almonds, pistachios even asparagus in the north valley.

He expected a much larger irrigation delivery this year but that wasn't the case.

"We didn't farm mostly row crops. We didn't farm tomatoes. We didn't farm pima cotton. We didn't farm some garlic and melon crops we'd normally have," explained Barcellos.

Barcellos and Jacobsen recently attended a field hearing in Santa Nella designed to discuss local water concerns.

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