US (CA): Avocado farmers adapting to drought

Faced with drought restrictions and the rising price of water, San Diego County’s agricultural industry is being uprooted and reinvented. It’s a transformation that’s bringing hardships but also new opportunities to the region’s farmers. But a closer look reveals a more positive outlook.

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Growers have been adapting to water scarcity, becoming steadily more efficient with the water they can get. They’re also diversifying into other crops that have surged in demand, such as organic produce, and even growing with hydroponics. And their produce resonates with “locavores,” who are willing to pay more for locally sourced food.

In other words, the need to use water more efficiently has actually been helpful, to a degree, by causing growers to rethink how they do business. Amid the discomfort and pain, San Diego agriculture is very much alive.

A decade from now, production of avocados, a signature food from San Diego, is likely to be even higher than it is today, said Eric Larson, executive director of the San Diego County Farm Bureau.

The road to that future won’t be easy. The better-poised farmers, with the right technology, land, and money, will gain. Others less fortunate will reduce their operations or perhaps go out of business entirely.

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