* a a 1 IMPERIAL VALLBY: TI]E I,AND OF SUN AND SUBSIDIES PauI G. Barnett Calif. Institute for RuraI Studies P. O. Box 530 Davis, California 95616 copyr rg nr September 1978 This research report rvas prepared under a research contract w:Lth the Reclamation La'o Unit of California Rural LegaI Assistance. Points of view or opirrions stated in thj-s documentr do not necessarily represent the official position or policy of California RuraI Legal Assistance. TABLE OF COI{TENTS I. Introducti-on II. t1arry vrsro NS 4 III. Private Dev elopment of the Imperial Va Iley IV. The Great Flood I5 \/ 'Fhe Tmneri al Trri oaf i.On Dis:rict FOrmed 20 VI. The Quest for Federal Subsirlies zoaa VII. The Boulder Canyon Project Act and Acreage Limitation 3I VIII. The Era of Federal Subsidy 4I IX. Land and Labor 56 .: r,, T .: + .i x. The Reclamation Subs ruy !rrur -.: L !lr '. thgI Imperial Yulley 65 IMPERIAL VALI,EY: TIIE I.,ANT) OF SUN AND SIJ I]S I DI IiS Ca-Lifornia's Imperial Valley i.s the hot-house f or Ame;rica's sinter sleason vegetables. Each January, most of the 'nation's lettuce is picked under tl-re Valley's mild rvinter sun, irrigated by water from the wor.Ld's best engineered reclamat:-on project, built at llederal expense,, Thel Val1ey has also become tire center of a political maelstrom between advocates of l-and reform and sorne of tl-re state's wrlalthiest farmers and largest corporations. A combination of court rulings, pressure from community groups, and the new perspective of a Presiclent from the South has made it appear 'bhat for the f irst time in 76 years, the 160 acre l.imit and the residency rquirement of the Federal reclanration larn miqht be enforced. The large land holders in thc.tmperial Valley have energed as a powerful voice opposing enforcenren-1 . Last year they financed : ptionw:ide media campaign run by Bill Roberts, the image m,aker who created 3ona1d lReagen "Citizen*Polit-ician. " i\dvertisements appeared in the lkshington Post, Newsweek, t.he Los Angeles Times and a host of 1=riodi,:aIs, carrying the inrage of a rugged Imperial Valley f armer, &nrdene,C by government regulation an,J asking only that the Federal €wernmr=nt live up to its "promdse" 1-o exernpt the Imperial Val1ey from ac:reage restriction. Thr: politicaJ.ly potent growe r -slrippcrs have, over the years, poven their public relatj-ons si)dvi:. With their workers organizing to Fin Cesar Chavez's United i:'arnuor l'lc rs Union, the Westerrr Growers *ssoeiation siqned much weaher cont'racts with the 'feamsters' Union, L €V€flr thou-ql-r thcir employ':c:'; lt'ttl nL'\'/!rl. tltorizcd t.tre'Ielamsters ':\11 to represent- tltern. 'llhe t-arrrnworl',ers' Unj.ot-t boycott of lLettuce was frustrated by the IVGA "truLlr sqtiad" whictr criss-crossed the courrtry argr:ing that their worl<ers lrad a]ready been unj-on,.zed. The Defano grape growcrs, intple ss;ccl ,,v j.tll the lettuce ql:owers' success, soon s iqtred with t. ltc 'le:er nts Lers as we l'l . The ploy was foiled, horvevcrr, by euactment of a .[arm labor election Iaw, t,he California Agri cultural Labor Relations Act, in 1975. Goverr'Ior Jerry Llrown rvas j-ttt rurnental in getting the law pass;ed.Itrequiresentployeestorloteinfavorofaf.rrmunion before it can claim to represent tl-rem- In the Imperia I Va 1Iey, the UFI^/ j..eat- the Teamste rs hands down. The agriculturaJ interests demons;trated the audacity of their power by pressuring the tegi-slature to cut- of the appropriations needed to conduct elections- The UFW resPoncled witi-r an lrri.t,iative mandating funding fctt the farm election law, and nraking i t mor:e dif f icult to amme nd. Though the initiative \^ias suPPorted b5r rl6vcrnor llrown, it was opposed by a blitz $ 1 . tA mi I lion c-ampa iq n which inclurded a BiIl Roberts media that alledged it t.hreatened prival.e property rights. The measure was resoundingllr defeated bY California voters in a malor political setback f or Ilrowrt. californja's enigrn;rtic and vacj lating Governor, r^,ho had recent chicled the Carter ac'lmin:istration l.or: lacking hhe wi'11 to enforce t subsidy limits in Ileclarnat-ion law, sought some way to appease the agribusincss 1obb5'. []is particufar collcerll , nc clc-, ubt was tne growrng campa ig n - 2.- war chest of tlte Westerrr crowcrs l'olitical Action Committee, thre sixth larqcs;t (-','-)t)trj.btrtot tr: st.alr: leryislative candiciates in the lg76 election, accorcl rn,-J Lo Common C.rrtse .I According to the Fair politic:aI l)racti.ce:i Courmi-ssi,on, agricultural contribuitions I totale.l $1,f 12,193 itr thc l)'/(t c-'arrrl,argr..2' In ttrc i,ace of thc raw politic;rl. reattities of the uprcoming j gubernatorial r.:1cction, t. lrc Ilr:own ac'lministration took a d f ferent stand on t,he Ri:c lamation Act, a starrd more in keeping witir that traditionatl,r, mac,lc by Ca li fornia pc.,) iticans. Ilrown's llcw Dircctor c;f t,]rc I)c[rartment of Food and ltgriculture is now aclvocat,inq that, t he subs j cly I irnits be relaxed, and that the Imperial Va1lcy be exernpted olttr. ight. Brown's rlew 'stance wn ' outraged advocate:; of lancl ref ornr. 'f he exemption f or the Imperial pr er VaIley was part.icularily c,:ut:r:aqeous, because most of the lcenef its of its Feclerally subsidj.zei rccfaruat,j-on project had not grcne to resident i small-s;cale farners. Rrown als<-r .ip;-rointed WGA activist IJerb FIeming, the , ' a ReaEcn appoi.ntr:e, to Ciiair: the lj'oard of Food and Agriculture. tlL Fleminl;'s sist-cr .rnd ncpher,v are act.--ve in the anti-I60 ac.re campaign. : , Land terrure in the l,mp,eriaI Va-L1ey more closely resernbles that bf , Sou.th ?\merican plant.rtions than Thornas Jef ferson's idea 1 ,:f independent yeoman f armers . tlalf of t l-re l-arrcl is held by absentee own{3rs. About dI I2,000 people carn thcir living on lmperial Va1ley farms. f4ost of them ar:e landl-ess farm laborers. Le:ss than 700 are farme.rs. Of these, nt Iy 72 farrn operators control uto::e tlran l-ralf of the Valley's land. the Bounded by tlre Salton Sea to the north and the Mexic,an border to tlre sout,lr, some who live irr thc -tmperial Valley have a,:guired a , fortune from the lancl . But tire maJ()rity of Valley residents are not, ' by any me<rns , wealtiiy. Wa_<Jes are arnonq the lowest in the state - C;rrey 1"1<:Wi.l liams wroi,c that the Valley has "the char,acter of an 3 abo:rted commllnitlr; a h.rif-i,or:mecl l i.rr sted , i Il -conceivecl nonqre l Bigotry is:l procllict of the V,rl Jt:1u, aS mttc5 aS Let-tttce, carrrots, or cattle. It js a bigotry infl anit:cl by the fear of the vast numbers of :lmpoverishecl }lcxicans who dai I'r, ..,'ross the border: to seek whatever worl< they can find. It rs nt.lt sLlrpt:isinc.; tlrat- tirc \zalley's wealth have ralLied so quickly to f iqht the enl-orcenrent o f tl.re r:ecl-amat j.on subsidy limj ts. These limits ttrreaten tireir control of irriqation r,vater. In an area wirich B0 years a{Jo was a barrun descrt, questioning their eont of ruater is to quest-ion thei.r conh::c>f of i-and, and t,o question the sys'bem which has rewarded thenr with so mrrclr, while leaving those who work the land and harvest t,he c-rops wjth so 1i.ttl"e. I. "L0 Groups Gave I'{iIIion fot: Lllection" Sacrame nto Ilee l-te cembe c ) 2, I9l1 2. "Farmers Gei- Set- for ''78 Ilaces" Sacramento Beer f'ebruar,r' l, 1978 p. Jr. McWil-Jiams, Carcl' pagc 302 Ca 1i f ornia : Ttre Grca t ii:<cept ior-r Peregrine Sniith, Inc., Santa Barbara I976 377 paqes. I I . EAIiI,Y VTS IONS . It was Oliver wozencraft':s ..rision. Water from the Colorado River could be cliverted to l,lrc r:lch farrn land that it today the Imperial- Va1]ey. Wozencraft first saw the Colorado Desert on his was to the California qolcl fielcls; i.n 1849. Ue was such a visionary that he planned nr)t on Iy to )rring water to the desert, but .3 to capture tl-re benef i.Ls of the p::o 1c<:t entirely for himself . rn 18 aa - a lobbiest for the At.l.atrtic-Pacif ic Railroad Proj€ct, he sought to protect his envisioned enrpi.re from the land grant railroads. He opposed the soutiterrt crc) ss ing of thc t-ranscontinenta I ra i lroad throu -4 3. the Colorado Dc-:scrt, telling 1eg"i: lat ors that It was "a country ots, in which evcn a cc>yotc cor-r ld not r;,-, t an honest 1iving. ,, orc In 1859, hc obLained the errclorslernent of the Californ:La (/p r , legislarture in t'ris irir-l to have ttrc-: (,OO,OOO acres of Federal Land given to him. Ilt,,'was not ablc t-o s\.JJly Congress, principa.Lly besause SO of his inoppor:tune t.inring .