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Drought losses pass a quarter of a billion dollars
SACRAMENTO September 8, 2008 12:02am 
• Fresno and Kern counties hardest hit • Rangeland drying up Farmers and ranchers in the Central Valley and the rest of California have suffered a combined $259.8 million in losses attributable to the current drought, the California Department of Food and Agriculture says.
The biggest share is rangeland, where the loss is estimated at $94.5 million.
Cotton is next at $61.5 million. Those losses include both unplanted fields and those abandoned for lack of water.
Almost 79,745 acres are estimated as either unplanted or abandoned. Cotton is the majority of this at 48,114 acres, CDFA says.
The state’s commercial vegetable growers say they’ve lost $60.8 million worth of crops because of the dry conditions.
Other crops and estimated losses:
• Processing tomatoes, $9.6 million
• Cattle, $7.4 million
• Melons, $7.1 million
• Alfalfa (hay), $6.5 million
• Grain, $5.8 million
• All other crops, $6.6 million
Fresno County has the biggest loss at $73.5 million and Kern has $69.5 million in lost farm and ranch income.
Other Central Valley counties and their estimated losses due to drought and lack of irrigation water through August are:
• Stanislaus, $12.9 million
• Merced, $12.8 million
• Kings, $10.9 million
• Tulare, $3.3 million
Other Central Valley counties had losses of under $2 million, CDFA says.
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