Page 63 - Mapping the Nation: Taking Climate Action

With an Eye on Every Field in California, Land IQ Watches Water Use When it comes to agriculture in California—where the US draws more than a third of its vegetables and two-thirds of its fruits and nuts—one company keeps an eye on water usage to ensure the resource remains sustainable. For years, Land IQ has documented more than 420,000 individual fields of crops statewide through remote sensors, satellite imagery, and in-person verifications spanning more than 15,000 miles annually. In three California counties critical to the state's agricultural production, the company also tracks how much water each field is using. The data, made visible on maps through GIS, gets reported to local water resource managers. These smart maps support officials monitoring the state's water supply and farmers making decisions that must balance economics with protecting natural resources. In the early days, some growers may have been wary of the tech-enabled surveillance of their water use. Now, with the state in a prolonged drought, Land IQ's co-owner Joel Kimmelshue said his firm rarely encounters pushback. Growers want reliable, accurate, and defensible information, too, since their livelihoods depend on a steady supply of water, he said. The emphasis is on facts. Land IQ doesn't advocate for one group over another, only the science. "Farmers are very adaptable. Very wise. And they've had to become that way because they've had to adapt to change," said Kimmelshue, who is also the firm's principal soil and agricultural scientist. High Stakes to Save Water Kimmelshue predicts dramatic changes to landscapes in the years to come as many growers opt to let the land go fallow rather than irrigate it. Water markets are also emerging 62 Drought