‘We can’t make it rain’: California farmers left out to dry as US government allots no water

“It’s devastating to the agricultural economy and to those people that rely on it,” said Ernest Conant, regional director for the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. Photograph: Aude Guerrucci/Reuters

Officials are preparing for yet another critical water year in California as the state – along with most of the American west – remains mired in drought.

The federal government said Wednesday that it won’t deliver water to farmers in California’s agricultural belt, which produces roughly a quarter of the nation’s food, due to the extreme water shortages that are expected to deepen if the direly dry conditions continue through March.