The Sacramento River Valley is among the top producers of rice, an important staple, in the United States, second only to the Grand Prairie in Arkansas. This year, rice is estimated to account for just 2% of total planted acres across the state. “It is now just a wasteland,” he said.Īs drought endures for a third year with record-breaking temperatures and diminishing water supplies, more than half of California’s rice fields are estimated to be left barren without harvest - about 300,000 out of the 550,000 or so in reported acres, provisional data from the U.S. Not this year, said Kurt Richter, a third-generation rice farmer in Colusa, the rice capital of California where the local economy relies heavily on agriculture. Normally, by September, the drive north from Sacramento on Interstate 5 showcases vast stretches of flooded rice fields on both sides, farms bustling with tractors and workers preparing for fall harvest. Sentinel satellite imagery Sentinel Hub Show More Show Less Sentinel satellite imagery Sentinel Hub Show More Show Less 9 of9 Sentinel satellite imagery Sentinel Hub Show More Show Less 8 of9 Sentinel satellite imagery Sentinel Hub Show More Show Less 7 of9 Brontë Wittpenn/The Chronicle Show More Show Less 6 of9 Brontë Wittpenn/The Chronicle Show More Show Less 5 of9ĭry land weeds in a field used to grow rice by farmer Kurt Richter in Colusa. Rice farmer Kurt Richter points toward one of his rice fields in Colusa. Brontë Wittpenn/The Chronicle Show More Show Less 4 of9 Rice production in Colusa and other Sacramento Valley counties continues to plummet from the effects of drought. Brontë Wittpenn/The Chronicle Show More Show Less 3 of9 Because of the impacts of drought and water allocation in the irrigation district, Richter is only able to plant rice on 1,300 acres of field compared to 5,000 he would normally plant in a growing season. Brontë Wittpenn/The Chronicle Show More Show Less 2 of9Ī road splits fields used to grow rice by farmer Kurt Richter in Colusa.
But since Richter isn’t able to receive water in the area, he and many farmers like him are forced to abandon the field for the year.
WASTELAND 3 FULL HOUSE CRACKED
While cracked soil isn’t unusual in some fields before harvest, these fields are often tended to before the cracks become larger.
Rice farmer Kurt Richter walks on cracked soil used to produce rice in Colusa.
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