San Diego County Avocado Farmers Must Pay Water District Thousands to Switch Their Service
— or Lose ItFarmers in the Highland Valley between Ramona and Escondido are fighting their water district over a plan to force them to pay thousands of dollars to switch the type of water they use to irrigate their crops — or else go without the water.
The plan is now mired in a delay of almost two years as the Ramona Municipal Water District considers the risk it will get sued and the impacts on its fire hydrant system.
Russ Snow, who grows avocados on four acres in the Highland Valley, said the cost of the switch might make him stop farming altogether. He said he’s already just “hanging on” as the rising price of water and the effects of climate change including wildfires make it harder to farm.
“It’s just kind of an end of an era, for me, and I share the frustration of a lot of farmers in this state that we’re kind of being pushed out,” Snow said.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/san-diego-county-avocado-farmers-must-pay-water-district-thousands-to-switch-their-service-%e2%80%94-or-lose-it/ar-AAVuEaT
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I know of some 45ers who own property up there and are actually being water conservation responsible on their acreage but all the neighbors hate them for it and try to sabotage the land and water source. Water acquisition in the west is ugly business, especially if you want to exploit it for capital gain over ecological health.
Sad too for other reasons like the Escondido/Ramona grown avocados are of far better quality than that which is grown further south, partly due to water quality. They taste sweet and nutty rather than, I can't explain it, flavor from the import variety. And then there's the fact that Mexico has been barred from sending the product to the States because of cartel threats. The drug cartels own the avocado groves in Mexico and have threatened the US inspectors so the US barred them from export to US.
I had an avocado from Escondido yesterday and I noticed how much better it was than the usual fare that finds its way to Montana. We pay dearly for them so it's something I noticed.
This will be interesting to watch, it's also highly prone to wildfire which is bad because it is covered in Manzanita shrub all over the place. Manzanita is a dense hardwood that burns long and hot making that one of the worst areas to have a wildfire in southern CA.
