With the state's water woes, California's watermelon growers have had to find a way to keep up production with dwindling water allocations. While some growers have managed to keep up good yields, others across the state have suffered by having to do with less.“Overall, this year has been good with good yields,” said Steve Dabich, director of sales for Dulcinea Farms. “The challenge was that we knew we were going to have to use more well water, because of the water shortage, but that hasn't hindered us at all.” Dabich said their growers were able to successfully drill for more water, and because they weren't significantly hampered by water restrictions, they were able to get good yields.
However, growers relying on water allocations during the years when there wasn't a drought, has led to a lack of these resources when there actually is one. Growers throughout the state have had trouble matching production from previous years because of combined weather events and a lack of water. That's led to decreased production and increased prices. Some growers, knowing that growing watermelons would be difficult this, opted to grow other crops. That further depressed state production and has led to increased prices.
“The situation for watermelons has been less volume and higher prices,” said Barry Zwillinger of Legend Produce. “Prices in California are about 30 percent higher than normal, and that's because growers in the state have produced fewer watermelons. Growers want to maximize their acreage, and watermelons tend to use more water, so many growers tended to grow more cantaloupes this year instead of watermelons.”