It is significant that Fresno County overall did have an increase of 3,000 farm jobs between February 2010 and February 2011. When it is time to make cropping decisions, other parts of the county are less vulnerable to fluctuations in Delta water exports. They have water rights that give them some flexibility.
In his April 8 posting on The Thin Green Line (“Is California agriculture ready for climate change?”), blogger Cameron Scott writes about a new report issued by California Climate and Agriculture Network (CalCAN). Writes Scott, “[A] consensus is beginning to emerge that sustainable farming practices will prove more resilient to the effects of climate change and will do a better job of feeding the planet’s growing population – which is exactly the opposite of what the Big Ag would have you believe.”
Scott quotes from a U.N. Right to Food press release: “We won’t solve hunger and stop climate change with industrial farming on large plantations. The solution lies in supporting small-scale farmers’ knowledge and experimentation, and in raising incomes of smallholders so as to contribute to rural development.”
That’s the scale of farming we treasure in the Delta.