How Agribusiness Influences Government and Research Institutions to Secure Water and Subsidies at the Expense of Ratepayers and Taxpayers
By Carolee Krieger, Caifornia Water Impact Network
Note: The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Maven’s Notebook.
In 1901, social activist and “muckraker” Frank Norris published The Octopus, a novel centered on the vast power held by the Southern Pacific Railroad over the economy and civil life of California. It was a brutal tale of the corrupt “trusts,” or monopolies of the time, and their crushing effect on working people – in this case, small farmers and ranchers whose land tenure was threatened by the railroads. The book immediately gained a wide readership and maintains an important position in the early 20th Century canon of American literature.
The death grip the railroads held on California has long been broken, but their contemporary heirs are a cabal of corporate growers who have seized control of state and federal water projects, local governments, and key research institutions to ensure their profits take priority over the environment, affordability, and independent research and media. The tentacles of this 21st Century octopus thus reach into every corner and cubby of our political, educational and social systems.
Consider some examples of their influence:
Massive Lobbying and Campaign Expenditures
Agriculture continues to use about 80 percent of the developed water in the state despite accounting for only 2% of California’s GDP. In large part it accomplishes this feat through lavish contributions to political campaigns and well-funded, relentless lobbying at the local, state and federal levels. Scores of powerful individual growers and associated interest groups pour billions into lobbying initiatives and campaign contributions – much of it directed to incumbents of both parties who sit on water and agriculture committees.
A prime example: the Westlands Water District – the nation’s largest agricultural water district – serves about 700 growers and spends hundreds of thousands of dollars on lobbying annually. According to
The New York Times, Westlands spent $950,000 on government outreach and public relations in one year alone, while its nine directors and their relatives donated at least $430,000 to political candidates and the Republican Party in the same period.
[1] Moreover, during the first Trump administration, a former Westlands lobbyist served as the Secretary of Interior.
And a single almond and pistachio producer – the Wonderful Company, owned by Stewart and Lynda Resnick – has shelled out millions in donations to political candidates and Political Action Committees over the past 30 years, including $250,000 to Governor Gavin Newsom for his anti-recall campaign in 2021.
[2],
[3] That kind of largesse buys a tremendous amount of influence – and water. It is no coincidence that the Resnicks control 57% of the Kern Water Bank, a vast rechargeable aquifer that was once reserved as an emergency drought supply for urban ratepayers. The Resnicks also gave $750 million to Caltech for “sustainability research”, a donation only made possible by the massive profits generated by their agricultural empire.
Farmers “Farming” Water
Westlands and the Resnicks are not the only water barons exerting tremendous influence over government policy.
John Vidovich, an agricultural baron who owns more than 146,000 acres of San Joaquin Valley cropland, holds state water contracts for 400,000 acre-feet of water. In 2009, he sold contract rights for 14,000 acre-feet of water to the Mohave Water Agency for $73 million.
[4]Nor is Vidovich satisfied with his control over vast quantities of state project surface water. In 2017, he attempted to transport Kings River flood waters out of Kings County, a move some local communities and neighboring farmers characterized as theft. He is also locked in a dispute with the equally powerful J.G. Boswell Farming Company over excessive groundwater extractions. In 2014, a Tulare County judge ordered Vidovich to stop groundwater extraction from a well field in serious overdraft status.
[5]For its part, the J.G. Boswell company plays the same game as Vidovich. It also owns 400,000 acre-feet of surface water rights for SWP water, along with significant
groundwater rights. Under the rules of the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act of 2014 – which was passed to stop aquifer depletion and ensure groundwater is distributed fairly – Boswell was allowed to sell rights to 10,000 acre-feet of its groundwater in FY 2020.
[6]Seven states and Mexico obtain water from the oversubscribed Colorado River, with California getting the biggest share. And of the Golden State’s cut, about 70% – or 3.1 million acre-feet – goes to the Imperial Irrigation District in the Imperial Valley. The valley’s acreages are employed to grow some vegetable crops, but most of the land and water is used for alfalfa (i.e., hay). Some of that hay is fed to local cattle, but much of it is shipped out of state and even overseas.
[7]Additionally, the Imperial Irrigation district is controlled by just 20 extended families; combined, they use more water than some western states. One family – the Abattis – used about 260,000 acre-feet of water in one year, or more water than is consumed by the greater Las Vegas metropolitan area.
[8] Meanwhile, thanks to long-established water rights, the 20 Families receive their water at ridiculously cheap rates – about $20 an acre-foot, compared to the $984 an acre-foot charged by the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California for untreated water.
[9]Privatizing the Gains and Socializing the Losses
The agricultural oligarchs are also emulating the lessons learned by Wall Street and highly capitalized industries that profit from government bailouts. Westlands and other large agricultural water contractors served by the massive Central Valley Project have been required since 1992 to pay for the project’s operations, maintenance costs and fish and wildlife mitigation costs. However, they have stiffed the government by manipulating cost accounting procedures. Cowed by the growers’ political muscle, the U.S. Department of Justice has refused to demand payment or penalize errant contractors. Currently, contractors owe at least $400 million in capital costs and $300 million in operational and maintenance costs.
[10]And the oligarchs aren’t stopping there. They are also seeking a bailout for fixing water delivery canals damaged by land subsidence – a situation caused by their own overpumping of the aquifers underlying the canals. Their most recent attempt is a bill authored by Senator Alex Padilla that would provide $2.5 billion in federal grants for canal repairs.
[11]
Influence Over the University of California
The University of California is more than the flagship institution of the state’s educational system. It is one of the world’s top-ranked research universities, and it wields tremendous influence in the scientific, geopolitical and civil spheres. This fact is not lost on agribusiness, which has invested billions over the years in the university’s agricultural and natural resource programs. Indeed, the UC Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources functions as an uncritical proponent of the state’s agriculture industry.
[12]While UC’s press office regularly releases glowing puff pieces
[13] on the benefits of the “symbiosis” between the agricultural industry and academe, media initiatives that even obliquely address water equity and the devastating effects of subsidized commercial agriculture are presented as thorny issues involving “reasonable” and equally powerful stakeholders working toward a “solution” – one that will require much additional research and negotiation.
[14]This reflects poorly on one of the world’s great educational and research institutions. To be clear: agribusiness has seized our public trust water for the benefit of a handful of corporate interests. The effects are dire, obvious and require immediate redress. University of California administrations and researchers know this – but they are reliant on the funding powerful agricultural kingpins provide. UC’s sin in this area may be one of omission (of the true facts) rather than active commission, but it doesn’t negate the devastating consequences of such passivity, nor does it absolve the university of its obligations to the commonweal.
Outside the UC system, agribusiness exerts influence through its own “research” organizations such as the Farm Bureau’s California Bountiful Foundation, and quasi-independent centers, such as the Public Policy Institute of California’s Water Policy Center. Although the Center’s funders include foundations without direct ties to agribusiness, its Business Council is a who’s who of major agricultural interests and powerful urban water agencies.
[15]The net result of this control is to constrain the range of policy proposals that are taken seriously by the media and elected officials. Organizations calling for major reductions in agricultural water use and subsidies are labeled as unrealistic because no “serious” researchers are echoing them.
In summary, California water policy is conceived and directed by a handful of powerful agricultural contractors who hold lawmakers and regulators in thrall. They spend millions of dollars on lobbying, political contributions and public relations to maintain their immensely privileged status quo, and they reap billions in revenue for their investment. Taxpayers and ratepayers pay for the infrastructure that supports these growers – and given their continued influence over politicians from both parties, average citizens can expect to pay much more. It’s a “heads I win, tails you lose” situation, and it will not change until we the people succeed in wresting back control of our most essential public trust resource – water.
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Follow the Money
A Three-part Commentary on California’s Corrupt Water Politics and Policies
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Carolee Krieger C-WIN President and Executive Director
Carolee Krieger founded the California Water Impact Network in 2001 with Dorothy Green, Michael Jackson, and Yvon Chouinard. Though a longtime activist, the Monterey Amendments prompted Krieger to formalize her efforts by establishing C-WIN as a 501(c)-3, and broadening her network of public advocates focused on California water equity issues.
The California Water Impact Network is a state-wide organization that advocates for the equitable and sustainable use of California’s freshwater resources for all Californians.
C-WIN: The Octopus: Mapping the tentacles of water politics
How Agribusiness Influences Government and Research Institutions to Secure Water and Subsidies at the Expense of Ratepayers and Taxpayers