Grower’s Corner: Harvey Singh

Stewarding your land well with flexible water use

Over the last few decades, recurring drought conditions have increased the value of water for local growers. Harvey Singh, a grower in Fresno Irrigation District (FID), is doing his part to steward his farming operation sustainably.

Harvey and his family came to the United States in the mid-1960s and started farming. His farming operation currently consists of grapes and citrus. Harvey knows firsthand the importance of flexible irrigation systems and using surface water on his crops before relying on the groundwater supply.

“This [FID] water has become very valuable —it is liquid gold,” he said.

He says that being good stewards of farmland inside the North Kings GSA boundary is critical to bring groundwater levels into balance.

“It’s always viable to be versatile,” Harvey said.

Ways to be versatile with irrigation include:

• Run drip irrigation if surface water is unavailable, especially when using groundwater
• Flex your irrigation dates where possible
• Maximize your surface water use when it’s available

Thanks to this year’s excess winter rain and snowpack, Fresno Irrigation District is providing an opportunity for on-farm recharge to help improve local groundwater conditions. North Kings GSA is fortunate to have FID as a member agency, Harvey said.

“We are lucky to be a part of this GSA,” Harvey said. “Just the fact that you have availability of water on a reasonable basis for a reasonable cost — that alone is a God save.”