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Farmer’s well is done, but he still has a reservoir of resolve

Adam Toledo remains optimistic but fears the worst for his alfalfa farm outside Terra Bella in the Central Valley. Another meager winter snowpack means another year of little or no water. He sits in his kitchen with his wife Gricelda, left, and daughters Johana, 10, foreground, and Valeria, 11.

Adam Toledo remains optimistic but fears the worst for his alfalfa farm outside Terra Bella in the Central Valley. Another meager winter snowpack means another year of little or no water. He sits in his kitchen with his wife Gricelda, left, and daughters Johana, 10, foreground, and Valeria, 11.   (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

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If the losing battle with the drought is taking a toll, Central Valley alfalfa farmer Adam Toledo never shows it, not even to his wife. “He’s never tired. Never angry,” said Gricelda Toledo. “I say to him, ‘Aren’t you stressed?’ and he always tells me, ‘Stress is a rich man’s disease. I don’t have time for it.’”

Running dry

Adam Toledo’s well is going dry, and there is simply nothing he can do about it. What is ordinarily a pond on his property is now a puddle as water flow from the Sierra Nevada has ceased.   (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

Running dry

“If I come home and my wife is sad and my daughters are sad and then I act sad too, what are we going to do? Have a funeral? No!” Adam Toledo shouted. “So, what, we start over. As long as a person is breathing, there’s hope.”   (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

Running dry

Adam Toledo looks out at his herd of goats grazing in one of his fields. “Sometimes, when you’ve been hanging on for so-so long,” he said, “you dream of letting go.”   (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

Running dry

Dead orange trees that have been uprooted lie rotting in the sun at a neighbor’s farm near Adam Toledo’s place. The neighbor’s well ran dry and he had to let the mature orchard die.   (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

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