This week Rep. Adam Schiff of Burbank faced off with former Dodger player Steve Garvey for a one-on-one debate in the race for California’s open U.S. senate seat. While the hour-long discussion spanned a variety of buzzworthy topics, both candidates were eager to take a minute to highlight their support for the ag industry and for water solutions.
 
 Garvey warned farmers are facing an existential crisis and need more support from their representatives. He saluted the Kern Water Bank for partnering with private water users and said elected officials need to reinforce policies to support such projects. Garvey charged that Schiff has failed California after two decades in office.
 
Schiff said he is enormously proud of ag, particularly farmworkers. He stressed that the environment must be preserved and the state must use water more efficiently. He called for capturing more floodwater for storage to avoid wasting “millions and millions of gallons going out into the ocean.” He touched on the need to invest in conveyance infrastructure, shared excitement over precision irrigation technologies and supported more water conservation and recycling. He asserted the state must do all this to get ahead of climate change.
 
Schiff added that he would follow the lead of former Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who took a centrist approach, working with ag to boost supplies. He said it is not beyond California “to want to have it all and to do it all,” to preserve the environment while continuing to be the breadbasket of the world.
 
 Garvey, in response, pressed for environmentalists to work with farmers and countered that Schiff does not have a way to pay for his goals.

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