California experienced a severe multi-year drought stretching from 2011-2017, significantly reducing surface water supply for ecosystems, agriculture, and humans, and prompting coordinated conservation efforts. Given that agriculture is the largest consumptive use of water in the state, one anticipated response to a severe drought would be to decrease production of low-value, high-water-use crops such as alfalfa. In this paper we use a multi-methods approach to examine both spatial distribution and public perceptions of alfalfa production in California over the course of the 2011-2017 drought. We find that while California alfalfa production did decline at the state level, it persisted and even increased in specific areas of the state. We also find that alfalfa persisted even though discourses and understandings that were critical of alfalfa production emerged in public forums during this time. We situate these findings within a broader context of California's water management system, which meant that in practice, infrastructure and water rights allocation practices left many growers with little incentive to change growing practices even in the face of serious meteorological drought.
Keywords: California; agriculture; alfalfa; drought; water governance.