AGRICULTURE
There will always be sunflowers produced here in the valley . It is the best place in the world to raise hybrid sunflower seeds .
SEAN DOHERTY co-founder , Sean Doherty Farms
But like Muller , Doherty ’ s most immediate concern is the drought . Many of his rice fields , usually flooded and reflecting the blue summer sky , remain dry this year ; he only planted four fields in the spring . He also decreased his sunflower fields to 220 acres , down from over 1,000 . “ I don ’ t have water to irrigate it , so it ’ s completely dry land ,” he says . “ It ’ s just relying on rain that fell through the wintertime to sustain this crop to production through harvest .”
Dry times
California is in its third year of drought , and farmers across the state are struggling to adapt to increasingly dry conditions . But the Sacramento Valley has been saddled with an especially punishing ordeal : For the first time this spring , the water district delivered no water at all to roughly 800 agricultural customers in the region , CalMatters reported in May . It was a shock to local farmers , who believed their supply was guaranteed under the vestiges of the 19th-century water rights system and the agreements that form the framework of the Central Valley Project .
The water cuts may serve to accelerate efforts some farmers are already undertaking to transition their fields to crops that require less irrigation . One of these is another commodity affected by the war in Ukraine : wheat .
Russia and Ukraine both make up one of the world ’ s most important breadbasket regions . Russia is the world ’ s largest exporter of wheat , while Ukraine is the fifth largest , and together they produce more than a quarter of the world ’ s supply . Much of the grain grown in this part of the world is destined for countries in Asia , Africa and the Middle East . Wheat and other food products are exempt from trade sanctions against Russia , but sanctions on Russian ships and other disruptions are preventing exports . These disruptions have already driven up the price of wheat more than 60 percent , and the price is only expected to rise as the conflict continues .
Wheat can ’ t be considered a drought-resistant crop ; soon after wheat production started in the Central Valley in the 1880s , it petered out when farmers realized there were other crops better suited to the dry climate , such as barley . But unlike many of the crops most popular in the Sacramento Valley today , such as rice and almonds , winter wheat doesn ’ t require major irrigation , and its growing period coincides with the valley ’ s brief rainy season .
“ It ’ s a low input , low chance of profit margin crop ,” says Muller , who is considering increasing his wheat acreage in response to rising prices . “ It hasn ’ t been as desirable in recent years until now . It ’ s looking like something that ’ s a viable option that the world is going to need .”
Doherty also grows wheat and is seeing promising signs in the market . “ People are booking next year ’ s winter wheat right now , because prices are good ,” he says . He ’ s keeping an eye on prices to determine how much he ’ ll plant .
Flower seekers
Despite the declines in acreage and the mounting challenges associated with the crop , tourists still drive in to see the sunflowers that remain in the Sacramento Valley . The region is home to the largest chunk of California ’ s roughly 70,000 acres of sunflowers and attracts
38 comstocksmag . com | August 2022