The deadline to apply for the Tule Land and Water Conservation Trust’s land fallowing program has been extended to Monday, Sept. 30.
More than $1.2 million is available to growers in the Tule subbasin, which covers the southern half of Tulare County’s flatlands, to participate in the third year of the program.
Those funds come from local groundwater sustainability agencies (GSAs) which collect pumping fees from landowners. The trust, formed in 2020 to help the basin navigate the requirements of the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA), works to match those funds with grants and private donations.
Executive Director Susan Long said land fallowing is just one tool growers can use in their efforts to decrease groundwater pumping.
“Growers know that things have to change and they want to do their part where they can,” she wrote in an email.
The program helps local GSAs reach their goals for reducing groundwater pumping, and the trust coordinates with them to verify the acreage enrolled in the program and the amount of water credit reductions.
To participate, growers submit a bid that is ranked and scored by a selection committee, which includes representatives from the trust, GSAs and The Nature Conservancy. They must enroll a minimum of 20 acres and pledge to not irrigate a parcel with groundwater for at least one year.
Instead, they plant a cover crop that is nourished by winter rains. Cover crops help with dust reduction, soil nutrition and providing habitat for wildlife, especially birds migrating through the Pacific Flyway.
Encouraging more growers to participate means more funds need to be available. Toward that end, Long applied for a $25 million grant from the Natural Resources Conservation Service and will know sometime in October if that effort is successful. The guaranteed income would stretch over five years, and allow for a bigger impact in the basin, which has been identified as a critically overdrafted subbasin by the Department of Water Resources.
If the NRCS application is successful, the trust has set a goal of fallowing 30,000 acres.
That would be a big boost to their recent statistics:
- 2022-2023 — 1,543 acres enrolled, saving 3,086 acre-feet of water.
- 2023-2024 — 1,190 acres enrolled, saving 2,380.
While some growers see taking land out of production as an option in the overall sustainability of their farming operation, others hesitate to participate because they depend on the crop income.
“This program is designed to help farmers achieve groundwater sustainability,” Long said. “SGMA has already made things difficult so we want to make sure the program we put out is useful and helpful to the farms.”
SGMA aims to bring overdrafted subbasins into balance by 2040.
Several other subbasins are employing land fallowing or repurposing options for their landowners.
Greater Kaweah GSA, in the neighboring Kaweah subbasin in northern Tulare County, started a pilot program in 2023 that enrolled 420 acres. Similar to the land trust’s program, Kaweah’s is funded by overdraft penalties.
Manager Mark Larsen said finding a happy medium that meets the objectives of the grower and the GSA is one obstacle.
“Land fallowing isn’t a program for everyone but we believe it is an effective tool for growers struggling with enough water for their annual cropping needs,” he said.
