San Joaquin Valley

Maia Krache of member station KQED in San Francisco reports on efforts to get federal protection for the delta smelt, a tiny fish which lives only in California’s Sacramento/San Joaquin river delta. The fish is threatened by a reduced flow of fresh water into the delta. But many say releasing more water to save the […]

Farmers in the famously fertile San Joaquin Valley of California are taking their land out of production because the soil is becoming too salty. Tamara Keith from KQED reports the farmers say the government should pay them for their loss.

Agriculture is a $31-billion industry in California — no state is bigger for farming. But with California in a drought, state-enforced water rationing is forcing farmers to abandon fields and lay off workers.

In the first of a four-part series, The World’s Jason Margolis looks at the impact of the economic downturn on immigrant life here. California has roughly a quarter of the nation’s 12 million undocumented immigrants. And many work out in the fields of the San Joaquin Valley. When hard times hit, they have little to […]