California Converted Its Irrigation to Save Water. So Why Is Farm Energy Use Going Up?
More than half of California's irrigated farmland now runs on drip or microirrigation. The water savings are real — but on-farm electricity use has not fallen. In many cases it has risen. And as California's agricultural electricity rates continue to climb, energy has become one of the most significant and least-managed operating costs in irrigated agriculture. For the broader context, see our series on California's water data gap.
This is a fully interactive, chart-driven piece — maps, stacked areas, toggleable layers, and a duck-curve visualization from live CAISO data.
Arian Aghajanzadeh
Founder of Klimate Consulting. 10 years of experience in energy, water, and agriculture sustainability.
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