Drought Could Idle 800,000 acres in California
The Monteca Bulletin, Monteca, Calif., reports that 800,000 acres of California cropland could be idled this year due to drought and lack of surface irrigation. That’s a 50% increase over earlier estimates.
Total cropland in conventional crops and hay totaled just over 4 million acres in 2013. So 800,000 acres represents about a 20% reduction in plantings.
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