Going With the Flow : Water Woes and High Costs Change the Face of San Diego Farmland

Despite the blows suffered by the nation’s agriculture industry in general in recent years, many of San Diego County’s farmers and growers have prospered by switching to profitable specialty fruits such as mandarins and cherimoyas.

Within the last decade, the composition of San Diego County’s agricultural industry has changed dramatically. Many buyers of tomatoes, once abundant in the county, have shifted to Mexico as a source because of cheaper labor costs. Nevertheless, farmers and growers posted a record $772 million in revenue last year, according to Wendy Dietrich Benz, a spokeswoman for the County Farm Bureau.

Production of the county’s trademark crops, such as citrus fruits, have also been scaled back, Benz said. But the industry remains healthy because growers are producing high-return specialty crops, partly to meet the demand of ethnic groups that are increasingly moving into San Diego.

Still, tough times could be around the corner for the county’s agricultural industry, which is in the midst of a four-year drought that threatens to destroy crops.

For only the second time in its 60-year history, the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California has notified agricultural water users of a potential cutback in water delivery. The reduction could begin as early as January, 1991.

“We have been water misers out of necessity for years and years,” said Escondido grower Ben Hillebrecht. “We dribble it on pretty carefully. We can’t do much more.

“If there’s any kind of a cutback, I’ll have to cut off water to my older (groves), try to save my younger ones,” Hillebrecht said, “and hope I don’t go belly-up.”

Although Hillebrecht may not have ways to counter Mother Nature’s challenges, he and fellow growers have found success in recent years by diversifying their crops.

“We’re competing with Mexico,” with its cheaper costs. “Our water costs are so high . . . we’ve had to grow crops that are going to bring in more money,” Hillebrecht said.

Hillebrecht has experimented growing new crops on his 250 acres--his father’s land which once yielded only oranges and avocadoes now produces more than 40 crops, including, high-return products such as raspberries and persimmons.

“People don’t want to pay much for tomatoes,” Hillebrecht said. “But they will for raspberries.”

The influx of ethnic groups into the county has created demand for profitable specialty fruits such as cherimoyas--a subtropical fruit with a banana-peach-melon blend flavor-- mandarins, bright-red pulp oranges called “blood oranges” and kumquats, said Steve White, president of Cal Flavor. The agricultural company grows, manages and packs avocados and specialty fruits on 1,800 acres in North County.

“Not only do we see a market for them, they require less land to grow on and they have a good

return. Those are major factors when we’re confronted by urbanization and high water costs,” White said.

For example, White said, a grower needs 10 to 20 acres to have a viable avocado operation. “But, if you’re growing specialty fruits, with just 1 to 5 acres you can still have a very viable operation,” White said.

A tremendous increase in outdoor and indoor decorative plants and trees has also contributed to the local agriculture’s robust condition.

According to the county’s crop report, revenues of plant and tree products have increased nearly five-fold to $153.1 million in 1988, up from $32.2 million in 1978.

“With all the construction that’s been going on . . . a lot of these plants are going for landscaping,” said Michael Mellano, an Oceanside flower grower and past president of the California Floral Council, an industry group for cut flower and indoor decorative plant growers.

Revenues of San Diego’s plant and tree product have increased, not only because of greater demand, Mellano said, but because urbanization has forced many Los Angeles and Orange County-based growers to move their nurseries to San Diego.

Growers “are losing their ground up there,” said Mellano, who moved his operation from Los Angeles County to San Luis Rey where he grows a variety of flowers on nearly 200 acres. “We wanted to expand, but we were surrounded by housing. That’s why we came down here.”

But, with each rainless day that passes in San Diego County, local farmers and growers fear that their worst nightmare will come true: drought will make irrigation systems drip dry and parch their crops.

“The only other time we came this close to a cutback was last year,” said Gordon Hess, a senior civil engineer with the San Diego County Water Authority who is responsible for agricultural water issues. “We’ve issued back-to-back notification” for water reduction. “We’re in grave condition.”

The Metropolitan Water District sells water to the San Diego County Water Authority--a wholesaler that, in turn, sells water to the local water districts. The water districts then distribute the water to municipal, industrial and agricultural consumers.

According to Hess, San Diego County receives water from three major sources--the Colorado River, Northern California and local reservoirs. Rainfall runoff is down 48% for the Colorado River, down 44% for Northern California, and 50% for local reservoirs.

Hess said it was unknown how severe a water reduction would be or how long it would last.

It all depends on the rainfall between now and December, Hess said.

The potential cutback is of concern to farmers and growers because many of them already utilize water conservation techniques and know of few other ways to survive a drought.

According to irrigation experts who have reviewed local farm, San Diego farmers and growers are 80% to 85% water-efficient--much higher than the statewide average of 60% to 65%. Local farmers have achieved high efficiency not only because they fear a severe drought, but to save money: water rates in San Diego County are among the highest in the state.

For example, water in the Imperial Valley costs $10 to $12 per acre-foot, Hess said. “That’s because the water flows downhill from the Colorado River right into the valley. There’s no pumping cost involved,” he said.

“But water rates in San Diego range from $250 to $500 per acre-foot, depending on how much pumping is involved to get the water from their local water districts to their farms,” Hess said.