Cropland Repurposing in California

The document advocates for a prioritized approach to repurposing approximately 1 million acres of irrigated farmland in California to meet Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) goals. It argues that 'extractive agriculture'—characterized as water-intensive and soil-degrading—imposes significant health and economic costs on rural disadvantaged communities that outweigh the revenues generated. The proposed framework prioritizes repurposing land inside these communities first, followed by land within a one-mile buffer, and finally other cropland through a transparent cost-benefit process. Proposed sustainable alternatives include renewable energy generation, habitat restoration, and regenerative agriculture.

• California needs to repurpose approximately 1 million acres of irrigated farmland into sustainable land uses to achieve the goals of the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) of 2014, which seeks to reduce pumping and increase groundwater storage.
• In the 123 small rural disadvantaged communities of the San Joaquin Valley, the economic costs associated with the negative side effects of extractive agriculture exceed the annual revenues of approximately $170 million (2016 US dollars) generated by agriculture in those areas.
• Repurposing 54,000 acres of land inside rural disadvantaged communities in the San Joaquin Valley could save approximately 146,000 acre-feet of water annually.
• Agriculture within a one-mile radius of the 123 rural disadvantaged communities in the San Joaquin Valley uses 1.3 million acre-feet of irrigation water annually and leaches 173 million pounds of toxic nitrate into aquifers.
• The use of synthetic fertilizers around these communities produces nitrous oxide emissions with a social cost estimated at $350 million per year, based on an EPA rate of $190 per metric ton of CO2e.
• Repurposing agricultural land within one mile of the 123 small rural communities in the San Joaquin Valley could result in the reduction of 1.45 million acre-feet of water use, 11 million pounds of pesticide use, 193 million pounds of nitrate leaching, and 1.85 million metric tons of CO2e.

APA

Union of Concerned Scientists (2023). Cropland Repurposing in California. https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/2023-10/Cropland-Repurposing-in-California_web.pdf

Chicago

Union of Concerned Scientists. Cropland Repurposing in California. 2023. https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/2023-10/Cropland-Repurposing-in-California_web.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Union of Concerned Scientists |title=Cropland Repurposing in California |date=November 2023 |url=https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/2023-10/Cropland-Repurposing-in-California_web.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{unionofconcernedscientists2023cropland, author = {{Union of Concerned Scientists}}, title = {{Cropland Repurposing in California}}, institution = {Union of Concerned Scientists}, year = {2023}, month = nov, url = {https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/2023-10/Cropland-Repurposing-in-California_web.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }