California Citrus Mutual says the drought will force valley farmers to bulldoze another 10,000 acres of citrus groves this spring.

Group spokesperson Alyssa Houtby says farmers are having trouble keeping their trees alive with ground water, which is costing at much as $1,400 an acre foot in some areas of the valley.

“We have about 10,000 acres that have been removed already, so growers have already had to make the difficult decision to pull that acreage out,” she said.

Houtby says valley citrus-growers generally get their water from the Central Valley Project. Currently, no water is allocated for farmers through that system.

– Anthony Pollreisz