2017 may be California's wettest year on record

Gladstone Land Corporation announced today that California continues to experience dramatic drought relief and is on track to have one of the wettest winters on record. As of January 24, 2017, the season-to-date precipitation totals for the state’s main reporting stations, ranged between 215% and 232% of normal, and the snowpack levels are 228% of normal in southern California and 193% across the entire state.

“The wet winter weather has been a great relief to farmers in California, as rain and snow are both important to the supply of irrigation water,” stated Bill Reiman, West Coast Managing Director of the Company. “Whether it’s rain that recharges groundwater wells and fills reservoirs or snow that melts in late spring and summer, providing continued runoff for the main irrigation season, water is key to good growing seasons. While all our farms have wells that provided plenty of water during the last four years of the drought, more abundant access to water is welcome news to farmers across the state. We are seeing ground water levels rising in our wells on the coast, and many lakes are filling up. It’s always exciting to get the new growing season off to such a good start.”

The Company does not expect any flooding from the current excessive rainfall to have a negative impact on any of its farms.

source: finance.yahoo.com