With chronic uncertainty over water allocations for farm irrigation, and relentless and escalating regulatory assaults on its oil industry, the biggest economic sectors of Kern County are threatened. The irony is thick. Food and fuel are the prerequisites for civilization – the enabling foundation for California’s entire much broader and often spectacular economy – and...

Successfully coping with severe droughts in California and the Southwest requires tough choices, all of them expensive and none of them perfect. But taking millions of acres out of cultivation and replacing them with solar farms is not the answer. California produces over one-third of America’s vegetables and three quarters of the country’s fruits and nuts –...

The recent election in Virginia has provided a trove of “teachable moments.” As a former educator, I know a teachable moment when I see one. And the political doings in Virginia this fall have been a goldmine. While the Democrats still maintain a small majority in the Old Dominion’s Senate in the recent election, Virginia...

As one rides on the train through the heart of the Central Valley, one becomes engulfed by the rich agricultural roots of California. Its beautiful crops and peaceful imagery make the breadbasket of the world a sublime place to live. Nevertheless, absent its rivers, both the crops and generations of hardworking Americans who take care...