Cropland repurposing as a tool for water sustainability and a just socioenvironmental transition in California: Review and Best Practices

There is not enough water in California to support current water uses and preserve healthy environments. California aquifers have been systematically depleted over decades, causing household water insecurity, degrading groundwater-dependent ecosystems, affecting small and medium farmers, and inducing subsidence. The California government enacted the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act a decade ago to prevent declining aquifer levels from continuing to cause undesirable results. This law has indirectly driven the necessity to reduce irrigated agriculture by about half a million hectares. If this change is left to market forces alone, cropland retirement could disrupt local economies and vulnerable communities, increasing the levels of injustice for local residents and threatening farmer and farmworker livelihoods. However, if cropland repurposing is organized and managed correctly and collaboratively among the stakeholders involved, it could improve quality of life in disadvantaged agricultural communities, diversify the economy, create more local socioeconomic opportunities, and increase environmental health while promoting food and nutrition security and advancing water sustainability. In this study, we present a systems-level, coproduced Framework of best practices in cropland repurposing to achieve socioenvironmental and economic benefits for all. The Framework is informed and supported by peer-reviewed science, authors’ first-hand experiences, and public engagement about the topic for several years. Our team includes scientists, community leaders, and other experts in cropland repurposing, socioenvironmental justice, agriculture, climate change, land trusts, disadvantaged communities, energy, Indigenous knowledge, and ecosystems. The Framework includes guiding objectives and best practices to overcome co-occurring challenges that prioritize public health, justice, equitable development, sustainable agriculture, green economies, protection to vulnerable groups, education, grassroots leadership, and cultural preservation. We conduct an extensive literature review of the current status quo and to support the best practices identified in our Framework. This review and coproduced Framework aim to ensure that anyone following these best practices can develop new solutions without causing new problems, while fully considering the impacts on all groups affected firsthand by cropland repurposing.