(WASHINGTON EXAMINER) – After 20 years of growing asparagus in California’s Central Valley, Joe Del Bosque is now resigned to watching his once-fertile fields revert to dust and dirt, courtesy of Mother Nature and the government.
The drought that has gripped the Golden State for two years has parched farms dependent on the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, which is the heart of the state’s complex system of dams, rivers, and canals. But the state and federal governments, which are supposed to help by managing the allocation of water, seem to have chosen fish over farms, said Del Bosque.
“We had to make a Sophie’s Choice which crop got water and which got the axe,” Del Bosque said. “One-third of my farm was unplanted this year.”
