What does it take to grow the food that makes it to your table? It takes time, a farmer’s hard work, and yes, water.

California's farmers work hard to produce the affordable, high quality farm products that consumers demand. The food and fiber produced in our state not only meets tough regulatory requirements, but the exacting standards of farmers who are always looking to improve. 

Improving water use is one area where farmers have outdone themselves. In fact, in California, the amount of water we use to produce farm products is substantially lower than in many other parts of the world, and because our farmers are dedicated to innovation and improvement, the amount of water needed to produce each serving of food is going down.

Over the past half century, total agricultural water use has remained about the same, while providing about 43 percent more food than we used to. That means that while the soup, salad, and sandwich you eat at lunch used water, they actually used much less than they would have fifty years ago. It’s the kind of smart water use that we can all get behind.

Did you know that California also produces a wide variety of locally-grown food and fiber with smaller water footprints than many of our trading partners? Food grown here in California is not only fresher and produced with California's high environmental standards, it also helps reduce global farm water footprints.

Learn more about our food's water footprint.

California's farmers are dedicated to growing healthy, fresh food for our state and the nation, in fact, California produces more than 2/3 of all U.S. fruits and nuts, and more than 1/3 of the nation's vegetables.

California’s farmers are working hard to grow fresh, healthy food in an efficient way, so you can be confident that the food you eat daily is grown responsibly.

Learn more about the innovations that are helping improve water management for our farms, communities, and the environment.