Access to a reliable water supply can make or break an agricultural investment, especially in the San Joaquin Valley where aquifers are coming under intense scrutiny from state and local agencies.

Lisa McEwen

SJV Water

Without at least two sources of water, farms and ranches throughout the San Joaquin Valley are quickly losing their value — some by more than half.

This stark reality will be the topic of a free panel presentation Friday, Dec. 6 at Fresno State University.

The “Agricultural Land and Water Valuation Symposium” is sponsored by the Gazarian Real Estate Center on campus, and will feature speakers who track how water availability impacts land values, cropping decisions, lending and investment trends as the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act is implemented throughout the region.

“The topic came about because water is issue number 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 in ag management,” said AJ Juaregui, a professor and director of the center. “We are at a stage now where SGMA is fully operational and I think there’s still a lot of uncertainty about what the future will hold.”

The law, passed in 2014, requires that aquifers be managed sustainably by 2040. That has meant slowing groundwater pumping in order to protect shallow domestic wells, infrastructure such as canals and bridges, and groundwater quality. The tradeoff, however, has been a decline in the value of ag land.

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For example, parcels that have no access to surface water have seen their values cut by more than half, especially in the Tulare Lake and Tule subbasins, which were placed in probationary status by the state Water Resources Control Board for failing to come up with a sustainable groundwater management plan. More than 20 percent of the San Joaquin Valley’s irrigated acres are totally reliant on groundwater.

Juaregui said sponsoring the symposium fulfills a goal of the center, which is to promote communication and provide information on real estate markets to the community, and students and faculty at the university.

“My primary goal is to hold space to have these discussions about what the future is going to hold,” he said. “We need to address certain issues that are still not well defined, such as land repurposing. There will be a lot of farmers debating what is going to be the future for them and how that will affect their livelihoods. We need to have open forums with all the stakeholders about how to navigate all these situations.”

Real Estate Update and Water Panel Discussion

The event begins at 9 a.m. with registration, networking and a light breakfast. About 9:30, Scott Schuil, a broker at Schuil Ag Real Estate, will give a 30-minute real estate market update, followed by a panel discussion moderated by Juauregui.

Panelists include Dan Vink, a water resources consultant at Six-33 Solutions, Paige Gilligan, a risk management consultant at Risk Mitigators and Advisors, and Jack Hower, appraiser and owner of J. Hower and Associates.

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Juauregui said he anticipates the center will host many more agricultural forums as the region continues adjusting to the impacts of SGMA.

“We have to bring awareness to what is happening in the San Joaquin Valley and provide information that will be helpful for farmers, policy makers and all stakeholders. We need space for everybody to have this conversation.”

To register for the event, click here.

About the Author

SJV Water Reporter Lisa McEwen grew up in Tulare County. She has reported on agriculture and other issues for a wide variety of publications, including Ag Alert, Visalia Times-Delta, the Fresno Bee, and the Tulare and Kings counties farm bureau publications.

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.