Farmers in California’s Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta hold some of the most secure water rights in the state. But as the drought deepens, even those privileged “riparian rights” holders might have to sacrifice their water.

That’s why many of them have agreed to slash their water use 25 percent in exchange for a promise they won’t face harsher mandatory cuts this growing season. Farmers say they’ll do that by fallowing fields, shifting to less thirsty crops and using less water to irrigate low-profit crops.

“It’s about minimizing the hurt,” farmer Rudy Mussi says.

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