BAKERSFIELD, CA - Fourth generation farmer Jason Giannelli knows all to well the importance of rain.
"The more surface water that we get, the less we have to pump out of the ground," said Giannelli.
And, the less money farmers have to spend.
Giannelli says retrieving water from the surface, such as canals, costs $17 an acre foot versus $83 to pump water from a well, and that doesn't include costs for repairs and electricity.
"If it were to rain right now, lets say we got a half inch of rain, I'd be able to shut off water right now for about a week," said Giannelli.
If the two rain systems making their way to California don't deliver enough water, more pumping for farmers like Giannelli will be necessary, especially after learning the county will receive zero percent allocation from both the state and Central Valley water projects.
"We're going to really need to see biblical proportions of rainfall to occur for us to even have some additional yield of water on any of the projects to provide water for our users in Kern County," said Jim Beck from the Kern County Water Agency.
But, local farmers are hopeful.
"We're hopeful that we're going to get a lot more spring storms and that's what we're hoping and praying for," said Giannelli.
Giannelli says the amount of future rainfall will dictate how many crops will be planted. Some farmers may not even have a crop.
"It impacts not just the owners and the operators of the farming and our family's livelihood depend on it as well and not just ours, our employees' livelihoods and their families as well," said Giannelli.
"The more surface water that we get, the less we have to pump out of the ground," said Giannelli.
And, the less money farmers have to spend.
Giannelli says retrieving water from the surface, such as canals, costs $17 an acre foot versus $83 to pump water from a well, and that doesn't include costs for repairs and electricity.
"If it were to rain right now, lets say we got a half inch of rain, I'd be able to shut off water right now for about a week," said Giannelli.
If the two rain systems making their way to California don't deliver enough water, more pumping for farmers like Giannelli will be necessary, especially after learning the county will receive zero percent allocation from both the state and Central Valley water projects.
"We're going to really need to see biblical proportions of rainfall to occur for us to even have some additional yield of water on any of the projects to provide water for our users in Kern County," said Jim Beck from the Kern County Water Agency.
But, local farmers are hopeful.
"We're hopeful that we're going to get a lot more spring storms and that's what we're hoping and praying for," said Giannelli.
Giannelli says the amount of future rainfall will dictate how many crops will be planted. Some farmers may not even have a crop.
"It impacts not just the owners and the operators of the farming and our family's livelihood depend on it as well and not just ours, our employees' livelihoods and their families as well," said Giannelli.