A fight over precious groundwater in a rural California town is rooted in carrots

By AMY TAXIN
Associated Press

NEW CUYAMA, Calif. (AP) — In a remote, dry patch of California farm country, a battle is raging over carrots. Or rather, over the groundwater where they’re growing northwest of Los Angeles. The Cuyama Basin Groundwater Sustainability Agency has adopted plans to scale back groundwater pumping in adherence with a 2014 state law. But a lawsuit filed by two major carrot companies, Grimmway Farms and Bolthouse Farms, says the plans unduly focused on them. The legal fight that has dragged small farmers, ranchers and others into court has prompted a boycott campaign and possibly portends a new wave of legal challenges over water as the state pushes for greater sustainability.