Coping with drought in agricultural supply chains

California's agricultural industry, particularly in the Central Valley, is facing devastating impacts from a multi-year drought described as the worst in 1200 years. The Alliance for Water Stewardship (AWS) standard is being used by companies like Diageo (Blossom Hill winery) and Olam to move beyond basic efficiency toward comprehensive water stewardship. For Diageo, this involved creating an internal "Blue Team" of employees to identify water-saving measures and improve watershed awareness. For Olam, the AWS framework led to the implementation of wastewater treatment via Sudan grass, cascading cleaning systems, and the engineering of multi-crop equipment that enables farmers to invest in drip irrigation. Both companies used the AWS standard to translate global corporate water commitments into local action by recognizing water as a shared resource.

• California is experiencing a multi-year drought, characterized as the worst in 1200 years, which has caused the loss of over 500,000 acres of crops in a single year.
• The Alliance for Water Stewardship (AWS) standard enabled Diageo's Blossom Hill winery to establish a cross-departmental "Blue Team" of employees to identify water-saving opportunities and increase understanding of the shared watershed.
• Olam utilized the AWS standard to implement specific water-saving technologies at its Firebaugh facility, including a cascading cleaning system for onions and the use of nitrogen-fixing Sudan grass to treat wastewater across 100 acres.
• To encourage the adoption of drip irrigation, Olam engineered equipment that allows farmers to switch between onion and tomato crops without destroying and rebuilding irrigation beds annually.

APA

WWF International (n.d.). Coping with drought in agricultural supply chains. https://www.worldwildlife.org/documents/424/5e10akz35w_AWS_in_California_FINAL.pdf

Chicago

WWF International. Coping with drought in agricultural supply chains. n.d. https://www.worldwildlife.org/documents/424/5e10akz35w_AWS_in_California_FINAL.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=WWF International |title=Coping with drought in agricultural supply chains |url=https://www.worldwildlife.org/documents/424/5e10akz35w_AWS_in_California_FINAL.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{wwfinternationalndcoping, author = {{WWF International}}, title = {{Coping with drought in agricultural supply chains}}, institution = {WWF International}, url = {https://www.worldwildlife.org/documents/424/5e10akz35w_AWS_in_California_FINAL.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }