The California Farm Water Coalition and the Family Farm Alliance teamed up with farms and farm-related businesses to buy a full-page ad in the Wall Street Journal on April 2 to inform a mainstream audience of the impact that the region’s drought will have on consumers. It warns about the risk to a key element of life that Americans have long taken for granted: a safe, affordable domestic food supply.
“Consumers have experienced supply chain disruptions over the past two years and now see the tension around the world as a potential threat to global food supplies. It was important to remind them that California remains our best, most reliable source for food if farmers have the water they need to grow it,” Mike Wade, Executive Director of the California Farm Water Coalition, said in a statement.
Warning that higher prices and food shortages could be coming soon, the Coalition called on the government to quickly build necessary infrastructure to store water from wet years for use in dry ones like 2022.
“Western irrigated agriculture supports the national economy and is the foundation for U.S. consumers to pay less of their disposable income on food than anywhere else in the world,” Dan Keppen, Executive Director of the Family Farm Alliance, said.
The ad includes a QR code that takes consumers to a website where they can take action by sharing accurate information about the region’s water supply issues and the link to food security.