Cheap Water for Farmers

Any article written on water policy must first answer the question: Who really benefits from low-cost water? The farmer? Or the consumer?

It’s obvious this nation’s cheap food policy benefits consumers who pay the world’s smallest percentage of per capita income for their food and fiber. The Food Security Act (farm bill) and the federal and state water projects are not designed to subsidize farmers per se, but to assure this state and nation of an affordable, abundant and secure supply of food.

Any person claiming that farmers are unfairly targeted for excessive government handouts hasn’t considered the social, political and economic prospects of dependence upon foreign food.

As for our efficiency on the farm, pure economics dictate that farmers use the best management practices possible. Documented progress in that arena far exceeds any progress Southern California has made to control growth and its insatiable demands for more Northern agricultural water.

ROBERT E. HERKERT, Executive Manager, Colusa County Farm Bureau, Williams, Calif.