State Water Efficiency and Enhancement Program.

Existing law, the Cannella Environmental Farming Act of 1995, requires the Department of Food and Agriculture, in consultation with the Scientific Advisory Panel on Environmental Farming, to establish and oversee a Healthy Soils Program to seek to optimize climate benefits while supporting the economic viability of California agriculture by providing incentives, including loans, grants, research, and technical assistance, or educational materials and outreach, to farmers whose management practices contribute to healthy soils and result in net long-term on-farm greenhouse gas benefits. In this connection, the department has also established the State Water Efficiency and Enhancement Program to provide financial assistance in the form of grants to implement irrigation systems that reduce greenhouse gases and save water on agricultural operations. Existing law, the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act, provides for the sustainable management of groundwater basins by requiring local government agencies, including basins designated as high- or medium-priority basins by the Department of Water Resources, to take specified actions to conserve and regulate the extraction of groundwater in those groundwater basins. This bill would require the Department of Food and Agriculture, upon appropriation of moneys by the Legislature for this purpose, to administer the State Water Efficiency and Enhancement Program to provide financial assistance in the form of grants to implement irrigation management systems that reduce greenhouse gas emissions, save water, and reduce energy use in agricultural operations in the state, offer technical assistance to program applicants, and perform outreach to groundwater basins designated as high- or medium-priority basins, as prescribed. The bill would require the department to consult with the State Air Resources Board to quantify the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions of projects proposed to be funded under the program. The bill would further require the department to annually report to the Legislature on the accomplishments and activities of the program.