Residents and advocates in the small community of Fairmead have been working for years to find ways to relieve pressure on the area’s aquifer to protect domestic wells. With the latest election, they hope all that planning can finally come to fruition.

Jesse Vad 

SJV Water

Last week, Californians voted to approve Proposition 4, $10 billion in bonds for environmental projects. That includes $200 million for the state’s Multibenefit Land Repurposing Program which pays farmers and local agencies to put farmland to less water intensive uses such as, solar, wildlife habitat, recreation and groundwater recharge basins.

Repurposing Farmland for Multiple Benefits

The program was created through a 2021 bill authored by Assemblymember Robert Rivas (D-Salinas) and then-assemblymember Rudy Salas (D-Bakersfield) with the expectation that some farmland will need to be taken out of production in the coming years as part of the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA.) To meet SGMA goals in the Central Valley, it is estimated that up to one million acres may have to be taken out of production.

Repurposing farmland doesn’t just benefit aquifers. Research shows that when farmland is converted to other beneficial uses near disadvantaged communities, that can also uplift the local economy.

Residents in the small town of Fairmead in Madera County are trying to do just that. Fairmead is surrounded by crops and has suffered from plummeting aquifer levels which have left household wells dry in recent years and even dried up one of the community wells.

Community members are teaming up with advocates from the nonprofit Sustainable Conservation and local scientists to conduct outreach to residents and surrounding landowners in an attempt to plug willing participants into the MLRP.

Community Efforts and Outreach

Community members have organized multiple workshops for residents and landowners to learn about the MLRP, understand application steps and meet the program’s technical assistance team members.

“We don’t want to push anyone away,” said Vickie Ortiz, resident of Fairmead and board secretary of the nonprofit Fairmead Community and Friends. “We learn something every day.”

Ortiz doesn’t want farmers to have to give up their livelihoods. Instead, the MLRP can offer a way for farmers to still make some income while greatly benefiting the community through projects such as a recharge basin, said Ortiz.

The hundreds of acres of crops around Fairmead have taken the water from everyone else who also relies on the aquifer, she said. But by repurposing some of that nearby irrigated ag land, “everybody wins,” said Ortiz.

From Theory to Action

The outreach and analysis, called the Fairmead Groundwater Resilience Project, started in 2022 and was funded by a $180,000 grant from the nonprofit Bay Area Council Foundation. The project was expanded with a second phase in 2024 with a $168,000 grant from the nonprofit Bonneville Environmental Foundation.

The goal now is to recruit farmers who want to repurpose some of their land through the state-funded MLRP.

“What we’re trying to do is go from theory to action on the ground,” said Aysha Massell, program director of Water for the Future at Sustainable Conservation. “What we really want to do is find at least one project that we as a project team could support and get funded.”

Other projects are already in action throughout the valley, such as a recharge basin constructed with the help of a groundwater agency and farmers near the small community of Okieville that is expected to help protect domestic well levels through drought cycles.

Ideally, the work in Fairmead would snowball and turn into more projects around the community, Massell added.

Groundwater recharge projects adjacent to communities can greatly benefit water sustainability. When water is recharged, it often “mounds up” underground, said Massell.

“So the idea is to have that kind of mound up around the community to give them a little bit of extra height to their groundwater and hopefully help the surrounding groundwater system as well, like other domestic wells and and even agricultural wells in the region,” said Massell.

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Economic and Environmental Benefits

Repurposing agriculture around disadvantaged communities can not only target water sustainability but build socioeconomic resilience and equity, according to scientists.

“If we do it right it will have a fantastic ripple effect that will benefit everyone, communities, farmers, industry, the environment, everyone in California can benefit,” said Angel S. Fernandez-Bou, Western States Senior Climate Scientist for the nonprofit Union of Concerned Scientists, a partner on the current outreach project in Fairmead. “When there are opportunities for incentives to do the right thing it is much easier to change the culture and create momentum.”

The benefits can be diverse depending on the project.

In some cases, agricultural land is reverted to habitat or natural areas that can protect communities from dust, noise and pesticides, said Fernandez-Bou. Projects can also revitalize local economies by providing opportunities in education and jobs in the green industry, he added.

In Fernandez-Bou’s study, he and other scientists modeled the economic impact of retiring agriculture around disadvantaged communities and repurposing some of that land to habitat, green infrastructure such as aquifer recharge, and less water intensive industries such as, solar and food manufacturing, all of which can have a lower environmental footprint.

They modeled multiple scenarios. For example, an investment of $10 million per community into manufacturing industries for ten years would result in more than 20,000 jobs in the San Joaquin Valley which would be paid 18% more than agricultural jobs lost in land retirement.

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Investments of $17 million for ten years for solar projects in communities would generate about 30,000 jobs in the San Joaquin Valley which would be paid 100% more than agricultural jobs lost in land retirement.

Overall, the modeling showed that while $4.2 billion per year and 25,000 jobs would be lost from retiring agriculture within one mile around the 154 small disadvantaged communities in the whole Central Valley, investing $27 million on average per community for ten years in more sustainable industries and solar could lead to generate $15.8 billion and to create 62,000 new jobs with an average of 67% higher salaries than farm work.

In 2023, 10,000-14,000 farm workers were employed in Madera County.

“If we activate the local economies, we can make communities that are resilient,” said Fernandez-Bou. “We can make communities that can take care of themselves.”

The idea is not to eliminate agriculture, especially since many of the communities throughout the valley are primarily farmworker communities. But striking a balance between ag and buffer zones of beneficial repurposing around communities can make a difference, according to researchers.

There is still distrust from residents and farmers though, said Fernandez-Bou.

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Historically, environmental justice advocates have often been at odds with the ag industry. And while some of that distrust still exists, repurposing to support communities is the best way forward, according to both farmers and advocates.

“This idea of buffer zones around communities is how I feel we coexist,” said Christina Beckstead, executive director of the Madera County Farm Bureau. “We want to help the communities.”

There are still questions as to whether repurposed farmland will be financially viable for landowners, said Beckstead. But despite the challenges and some uncertainties, Beckstead said if she can get growers around communities to implement strategies like those of the MLRP, coexisting is possible.

The current project in Fairmead will come to an end in March, 2025. Landowners around Fairmead who are interested in participating in the MLRP can submit a pre-application here.

About the Author

SJV Water Reporter Jesse Vad was born and raised in the Bay Area. He is a multimedia journalist and graduate of the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at City University of New York.

About SJV Water

SJV Water is an independent, nonprofit news site covering water in the San Joaquin Valley, www.sjvwater.org. Email us at sjvwater@sjvwater.org.