A reminder that sustainable agriculture requires a lot more insight than just using organic methods came along with a speech made by Representative Jim Costa a few minutes ago. That wasn’t the purpose of his speech. Costa spoke to protest against an opinion issued by the National Marine Fisheries Service today. That opinion finds that populations of chinook salmon, steelhead, green sturgeon and orcas are in danger of going extinct unless the the Central Valley Water Project and State Water Project, which supply immense agricultural operations in the San Joaquin Valley, are restricted, reducing water usage by five to seven percent.

The San Joaquin Valley is home to massive organic farms that love to talk about how they do better by the environment… as they irrigate their crops with water pumped out of local rivers, degrading waterways that freshwater and saltwater ecosystems alike depend upon. These rivers are home to populations of salmon that have dropped off to next to nothing. Other fish have suffered as well, and marine mammals that feed upon these fish are dwindling. Of course, so-called conventional farms are involved in the the draining of the rivers for irrigation as well, but people have come to expect very little in terms of environmental integrity from conventional agriculture. Organic farms working California’s naturally arid, and increasingly drought-stricken, lands cannot be considered sustainable. As the NMFS opinion explains, the use of water in which these organic farms are take part cannot go on without permanent ecological damage.

Costa and other area politicians are urging that sources of problems for the fisheries, besides California’s agricultural water projects, be researched before any action is taken. Additional layers of information are always nice to have, but the requests for yet more studies to be done, looking for new, politically-unconnected culprits to blame for the fisheries problem is all too similar to the oil industries demands over the last 20 years that legislation on global climate change be delayed until additional research is completed. It’s a delay tactic intended to serve commercial interests, not an honest effort to bring about better regulation.

It’s true that there are many smaller sources of pollution and water diversion in the San Joaquin Valley than just those that impact the powerful megafarms in Jim Costa’s district. However, it’s changes to the water projects that supply the megafarms in Jim Costa’s district that can bring the greatest benefit. The National Marine Fisheries Service reports that it attempted to create models for restoration of delta fisheries without creating water restrictions, but found that it isn’t possible to do so.

This isn’t just an issue for California farmers to consider, because people living all over the United States eat fruits and vegetables from farms in the San Joaquin Valley. We need to ask ourselves: Are we willing to watch the devastation of Pacific salmon runs, the disappearance of resident killer whale populations, and the general impoverishment of California’s riverine and marine ecosystems, just for the sake of inexpensive strawberries and salad greens in winter?