In a campaign aimed at publicizing the threat to the nation’s food supply, the California Farm Water Coalition partnered with the Family Farm Alliance and Klamath Water Users Association to show consumers how water policies are contributing to food shortages and rising prices.

Beginning April 2 with a full page ad in the Wall Street Journal, the campaign progressed over the summer with paid social media posts aimed at consumers aged 18 to 44. Ads were written to inform readers that food supplies are at risk and that prices are expected to rise, which they did- to record levels.

Readers were also encouraged to click a link to learn more at a special landing page on the CFWC web site with information on the connection between water and food security. https://www.farmwater.org/food-security-and-water/

To date, the campaign has generated over 7 million impressions with almost 210,000 people clicking the link to visit the web site where major points with supporting information included:

By refusing to recognize the importance of a safe, affordable food supply and restore balance to their water policies, bureaucrats are endangering America’s food supply chain.

Western agriculture cannot simply be moved elsewhere. The unique combination of climate, soil, and other factors give it the ability to provide a diverse array of crops in quantities that cannot be replicated in other regions.

Current water policy is creating deserts where food used to be grown, which helps perpetuate the cycle of drought and wildfires, and makes climate change worse. Irrigated farmland helps slow the effects of climate change.

We can do something about it. We must move quickly to build new infrastructure that has been funded at both the federal and state levels to capture additional water in wet years to make available during the next drought.

“This campaign has been a huge success by helping drive the public discussion on the risk to our nation’s food supply through policies that deny water to our farms,” said CFWC Executive Director Mike Wade. “We will continue hitting this issue through the election and beyond, with the goal of holding elected officials and government appointees accountable for their actions.”