Just ask the state of California. A three-year period of below-average rainfall has led to a severe drought throughout the entire state. The National Climatic Data Center’s latest drought monitor shows that all of California is under moderate drought conditions. Within that map, 76.6 percent of the state is experiencing extreme drought conditions, and 24.7 percent is experiencing “exceptional” dryness.
That dryness is affecting California farmers, who have been forced to make critical decisions about their farmland due to meager water allocations. Their choices could leave up to 800,000 acres, or about 7 percent of the state’s cropland, barren and make produce prices up to 3 percent higher.