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Farmers, ranchers in the Southwest adapt to the region's worst drought in more than 1,000 years

Feb 16, 2022
Some are selling cattle. Others are changing the crops the grow.
According to a study published this week in the journal Nature Climate Change, it’s the worst drought the Southwest has experienced in at least 1,200 years. 
icholakov / Getty Images

What does California's drought mean for the rest of the country?

Oct 20, 2021
For starters, California is the biggest agricultural producer in the U.S.
Dead almond trees lie in a drought-stricken field in Huron, California, in July 2021.
Robyn Beck/AFP via Getty Images

Why governors and Congress members want a drought disaster declaration

Aug 26, 2021
Ranchers are hurting as 98% of the West experiences drought. A declaration could free up funds to help them.
A water crisis sign is seen in California's Kern County, one of the top agriculture-producing counties in the San Joaquin Valley, in April 2021.
Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images

The looming tomato shortage

Aug 3, 2021
The drought in California — the country’s biggest producer — will make tomato yields short by up to 10%, possibly boosting prices.
The drought in California may reduce the state's tomato yield as much as 10%, frustrating businesses along the supply chain as well as consumers.
Spencer Platt via Getty Images

A California farm battles drought: “We're out here trying to survive"

Jul 16, 2021
A historic drought threatening crops in the West could send food prices higher.
Terranova Ranch in California's Central Valley was forced to re-drill two of its wells after they ran dry.
Courtesy of Terranova Ranch

Iranians struggle under weight of sanctions, drought

Aug 29, 2018
Iran Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei urges government to work "day and night" on economic problems.
President Hassan Rouhani speaks at the Iranian Parliament in the capital Tehran, on August 28, 2018. - It was the first time Rouhani had been summoned by parliament in his five years in power, with MPs demanding answers on unemployment, rising prices and the collapsing value of the rial, which has lost more than half its value since April.
ATTA KENARE/AFP/Getty Images

Building an agricultural empire in a land of drought

Feb 5, 2018
The Wonderful Company produced more pistachios and almonds than anyone else in the world. But to make money, they need water.
A Wonderful Company citrus orchard.
Photo courtesy of Trent Davis Bailey/The California Sunday Magazine

For public good, not for profit.

California's drought is all but over, but some wells are still dry

May 29, 2017
Some of the state's poorest residents are still shelling out a premium for water.
The hamlet of Okieville in California’s San Joaquin Valley has been hard hit by the state’s drought.
Sarah Craig

Water, water everywhere in California, but no way to hold onto it

Mar 22, 2017
California’s had one of the wettest winters on record — more than twice as much rain and snow as in an average year. That’s especially wild since we’re six years into a historic drought. But California doesn’t have enough dams, reservoirs or other storage. So instead of using it, all that precipitation just joins the […]

Washington state mulls plan to keep water flowing to high-value crops

Feb 17, 2017
Right now, farmers have little incentive to sell water to each other.
In a good year, Brad Carpenter's Yakima Valley  irrigation canals are full of water.
Aaron Wolf