US Drought: Sinking of California's Farming Capital Corcoran Impact Town's Agribusinesses and Farming Industry

Corcoran is known as one of the biggest farming regions of California. Every day, multiple trucks of goods, including vegetables and cotton, were being distributed by the town across various states. However, the self-proclaimed farming capital is at risk, as the town itself is gradually sinking into the ground.

Corcoran's Terrain Have Sank with a Height of a Two-Story House

(Photo: James Frid from Pexels)

Constant water pumping takes place every day to supply the massive irrigation of the town's farms and fields. Because of this, the town's terrain structure has been softened, leading to corrosion of minerals underground. It is evident that Corcoran's intensive farming heavily relies on the region's future of land formation.

Corcoran's farmers need to irrigate the majority of the fields present in the town to supply nutrition for a large chunk of the United States. Pumping of irrigation in the town has been established way back in the 1900s, but the series of extracting sources underground led to the sinking of their ground. The withdrawal of water beneath the town's surface is much faster compared to the replenishment of rainwater. With that said, the source of farming has slowly become the worst enemy of Corcoran.

California Department of Water Resources hydrology expert Janine Jones said that Corcoran gradually sank to a level comparable with a two-story house 100 years since the beginning of the intensive farming and irrigation activities, reports PhysOrg.

The sinking of Corcoran, like any other sinking ground, is not visible to the naked eye. What's more, the features of the town do not provide easy details of the ground plummeting. There are no observable damages on the walls of infrastructures, nor cracks on the fields and streets.

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Corcoran's Sinking Impacts Farming and Jobs, People Leaving the Town

NASA was reached out by the authorities of California to measure and examine the geological anomaly of Corcoran. With the research conducted by the experts, one piece of evidence of the sinking phenomena showed up. The detailed change was recorded on the levee located at the edge of the city. Because of the findings, Republic World reports that the local authorities conducted a project back in 2017 to raise the specified area and prevent the whole basin-like town from being flooded once a storm or cyclone passes through Corcoran.

Corcoran's problem today is doubled, as excessive drought hits the country due to our planet's changing climate. This pushed the authorities to implements a water restriction for farmers that use irrigation for their products.

The Californian town has been running in full circle with their agricultural dilemma, which causes a devastating impact on the Corcoran's economy and the psychological trauma of the citizens. Not only are the local farmers affected, but also the farming enterprises that manage huge fields of the town. According to a report by NDTV, the majority of the population that works with agribusinesses in the town are leaving one by one because of the problem. Lesser jobs are hurting the locals, especially the town's dominant Hispanic community working hard to maintain and produce products from the farms. Even Corcoran's three movie theaters have closed down due to the effects of the sinking ground.