Colusa County officials hosted a legislative tour and informative briefing for Assemblywoman Cecilia Aguiar-Curry (D-Winters) on May 21 that highlighted the crisis-level economic impacts resulting from an unprecedented drought and winter freeze.
Supervisors Daurice Kalfsbeek Smith and Gary Evans were joined on the tour of the west side by Agricultural Commissioner Anastacia Allen, Public Works Director Michael Azevedo, and County Administrative Officer Wendy Tyler to highlight the need for the state’s assistance to help get Colusa County through a challenging year.
“I have spoken to many growers who have had to lay off their year-round employees,” Smith said. “They have also had to tell seasonal migrant workers, who return to their ranch every year, that there is no work this year. Without a crop on the tree there will be no fertilizing, spraying for pests, pruning, mowing, or harvesting for them to do. Many of the seasonal workers are being turned away, while others are looking for supplemental work, knowing that the work they are accustomed to will not be there this year.”
Smith said the county is looking for Curry to help provide a bridge to help Colusa County, which will fallow an estimated 370,000 or 450,000 acres of rice in the Sacramento River settlement contractors service area, resulting in a direct financial loss to growers in excess of $270 million.
“If nothing is done, we risk losing the generations-long heritage that is in the fabric of Colusa County,” Smith said. “We are hard-working and resilient, and will get through this crisis. However, if we lose this infrastructure (the custom applicators, the crop dusters, the field workers, the mills), things will look very different on the other side. When the water comes back, we will no longer have the infrastructure to plant $150,000 acres of rice. We will lose our place in the world’s market to help feed families on a global level.”
Additionally, the February freeze resulted in a 74 percent loss of local almond crops, with an estimated direct financial loss to growers of nearly $210 million, which could result in downstream impacts and future labor shortages.
Smith requested that Curry assist the state in developing and deploying local programs to help assist the industry through this historic crisis.
Colusa County officials took Curry on a tour of the parched foothills and proposed footprint of the Sites Reservoir, which, if built, will play a critical role in water security in the future.
Joining the tour was Sites Project Authority Board Vice Chair Jeff Sutton, Executive Director Jerry Brown, and External Affairs Manager Kevin Spesert. Other stakeholders on the tour were California Heritage Mills Chief Executive Officer Steven Sutter and Depue Warehouse co-owner Kevin Dennis.
Aguiar-Curry said it was an honor and pleasure to meet with her colleagues in Colusa County to discuss the impacts of the drought and short and long-term strategies for addressing – and more importantly preventing – water crises in California.
“I have been a constant advocate for our small cities and rural communities in the Legislature,” she said. “And, I’ll continue my support for relief for the businesses and families who are victims of the drought, and struggling with the fall-out from the pandemic, supply chain crisis and inflation. As a farmer, I know first-hard how hard it has been for our farmers and agricultural workers these past several years. I’ll do everything in my power, including advocating for the Sites Reservoir, to provide for a better water future for our farmers and the environment.” ■