California farms expect to get bump in irrigation water

FRESNO, Calif. (AP) — Federal officials say farmers in a vast agricultural region of California will receive a greater share of irrigation this summer compared to recent years of drought.

The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation on Wednesday announced that farmers in the San Joaquin Valley will receive 65 percent of their contracted supplies.

This comes in one of California's wettest winters in years ending five years of punishing drought.

William Bourdeau of Harris Farms says this is a big improvement over years of drought when the 10,000-acre farm based in Coalinga, California received little if any surface water. The farm left thousands of acres fallow.

Bourdeau says, however, that the announcement comes late, leaving farmers scrambling to decide what to plant this summer.

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