Carrots farms v valley: the battle over a water-depleted California region

The Cuyama valley gets only 8in of water a year - and some of the US's top carrot farms want a bigger share of the increasingly precious resource

More than five years ago, Jim Wegis, a lifelong farmer in central California's Cuyama valley, could see the writing on the wall for his water-intensive alfalfa fields.

He switched most of his 140 planted acres from seasonal hay to permanent olive and pistachio groves, drastically reducing his impact on the local aquifer. I cut my water use just about in half," he said.