A portion of California's crop-producing Central Valley north of Los Angeles is now in the most severe category of the weekly U.S. Drought Monitor report. By Jonathan Lloyd • Published May 27 ...

The map also shows a staggering difference in comparison to the start of 2024, when about 96% of California was under no drought, and abnormal dryness impacted just a fraction of Siskiyou County ...

High-value crops such as almonds, pistachios and wine grapes are the reason. ... University of California Davis. Add Topic. Despite drought, California has record high crop revenue.

Climate change and drought has driven California farmers to seek more resilient crops — like agave. And as the crop takes off, distillers have started making their own California agave spirits.

California harvested the state’s smallest rice crop since the severe drought of 1977-78, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. “We typically plant about 100,000 acres of rice in our ...

And in California, farmers have struggled to keep crops like almonds, that require a lot of water, healthy. Agaves, however, can take the heat. They're easy to maintain and don't need a lot of water.