Tech helps strawberry farmers conserve during drought

WATSONVILLE, Calif. (KGO) -- Fresh California strawberries are ripening early this year due to warm weather connected to our state's historic drought. And farmers are growing those berries with less water. One Watsonville farm is getting some high-tech help thanks to your drought-busting tax dollars.

"We started farming in Watsonville in 1952," said Gary Sakakihara.

Since then, a lot has changed on his strawberry farm, like the irrigation.

"You would turn off that one row with a cork and then you'd move to the next one," he said.

And how much water is enough?

"I'll check the moisture in the bed with my finger and the firmness of the soil and that's how we've done it you know for many years," he said.

But in the field of organic strawberries there's one thing inorganic -- a high tech solar powered substitute for Sakakihara's finger.

"It changed the way we irrigate, the way we fertilize," said Sakakihara Farms Operation Manager Rich Uto.

Tensiometers have been around for decades. But ones that talk to your smartphone are new.

It's helping conserve the precious and dwindling supply of fresh groundwater.

"We're close to the ocean here," Sakakihara said. "So if we were to keep drawing out the groundwater, eventually it'll be replaced, and saltwater's the closest thing,"

It's all far more advanced than the old technology, but it's also far more expensive. The eight tensiometers in his fields cost a total of $36,000. Fortunately, the growers didn't have to shoulder that all themselves. They got a little help down there in Watsonville from the folks up in Sacramento.

"They paid for 50 percent of it and we paid for the other 50," Uto said. "It was huge. I don't think we'd have done it if we didn't get the help from that grant money."

Thanks to funds from Gov. Jerry Brown's drought declaration, Uto is also attending state classes on high tech water saving.

Nearby at the Felton Farmer's Market, some shoppers said it's a good use of public money.

"Like everything else in life, change happens, and the adaptation needs to happen," One shopper said.

Another added, "That's an expensive transition, so I think expecting farmers to pay for that by themselves is not realistic."

Uto says actually getting the money has made him feel like part farmer, part lobbyist.

"You have to be, I guess, the word is being proactive about it," Uto said. "Some growers, you know, don't think it's worth it. And I do."

To ensure there's enough water to farm these strawberry fields forever.

For water rebate information from Bay Area water suppliers, click here. And click here for tips on how to conserve. To learn more about how to report water wasters #WhereYouLive, click here.

For full coverage on the drought, click here.