Delta farmers prepare for battle

Balancing on a ladder, a picker works the tops of pear trees early in the morning on a Grand Island orchard. (Arkasha Stevenson / Los Angeles Times)

Oct. 4, 2012 6:41 PM PT

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Landowners plan their fight against two 35-mile underground tunnels that would carry water from the Sacramento River to the giant pumps that fill southbound aqueducts. Read Bettina Boxall’s article: Delta, accustomed to water wars, prepares for battle

Chuck Baker examines the golden brown coloring of the pears picked that morning at an orchard he manages. Baker starts each day by visiting orchards and monitoring the progress of the fruit. (Arkasha Stevenson / Los Angeles Times)

Brett Baker, son of Chuck Baker and a sixth-generation farmer, prepares for a boat ride on the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. (Arkasha Stevenson / Los Angeles Times)

As the sun sets on the Baker Ranch, Chuck Baker picks a pear from his backyard, a 30-acre pear orchard that has been in the family for 150 years. (Arkasha Stevenson / Los Angeles Times)

Local nectarines rest on the kitchen counter as Joy Baker, wife of Chuck Baker and president of Restore the Delta, cooks dinner on the Baker Ranch on Sutter Island. (Arkasha Stevenson / Los Angeles Times)

Boats are anchored along the levees as night falls over the delta. (Arkasha Stevenson / Los Angeles Times)

The sun illuminates rows and rows of corn growing on Staten Island in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. (Arkasha Stevenson / Los Angeles Times)

Tom Merwin walks through one of his family’s vineyards in the delta. Merwin remembers crawling in the dirt and planting the vines when he was 12 years old. (Arkasha Stevenson / Los Angeles Times)