Eliyahu Kamisher | Bloomberg

President Donald Trump’s obsession with California’s water comes from an often overlooked source — Golden State farmers.

Typically Republican and clustered in the vast Central Valley, they’ve long fought Democrat-controlled Sacramento over California’s limited water supplies, saying state officials shortchange farms to protect fish. They power California’s $59 billion agriculture industry but command none of the national political clout given the big donors of Hollywood or Silicon Valley.

But they appear to have Trump’s ear. And he’s using their long-standing water complaints to feed a narrative of failed Democratic rule.

This week, Trump announced a sweeping executive order directing federal agencies to override endangered species protections, send more water southward into the Central Valley and jumpstart water storage projects. He cast it as a response to the deadly wildfires tearing through Los Angeles County, saying “Disastrous California Policies” had left the region without enough water to fight the flames. Later, he posted on Truth Social that the military had entered California and “TURNED ON THE WATER.”

RELATED: California farms fail as land values plunge amid groundwater crisis

“The days of putting a Fake Environmental argument, over the PEOPLE, are OVER. Enjoy the water, California!!!” he wrote. Trump even suggested making federal emergency relief for the fires contingent on changing the state’s water policy.

State officials responded that the military had not, in fact, entered California and that water pumps under federal control had simply been turned back on after three days of maintenance. Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom, who has often sparred with Trump, accused the president of pushing misinformation. Sending more water from Northern California to the south had “nothing to do” with fire response, spokesperson Tara Gallegos said.

Farmers in California’s Central Valley are embracing Trump’s executive order that will send more water to its agriculturally rich land. (September Dawn Bottoms/Bloomberg) 

Yet it was a major win for Central Valley farmers, who see increased flows as the key to more crops and jobs. The president’s foray into California’s perennial water wars underscores the growing influence of this bloc of farmers, lawmakers, and advocates with access to the administration.

“It’s a game changer,” said William Bourdeau, executive vice president at Harris Farms, a major grower of almonds and pistachios. He hosted a fundraiser for now-Vice President JD Vance last summer at his company’s namesake resort in cattle country, where banners blasting Newsom and US Representative Nancy Pelosi dot the highway.

He found Vance a quick study, particularly on the need for more water.  “He was very receptive,” Bourdeau said.

“There is a moment right now, a once-in-a-generation opportunity to move more water,” said Republican Congressman Vince Fong of Bakersfield, who met with Trump twice in January and helped shape the executive order. “Myself and a number of my colleagues, as well as water experts throughout California, were sending ideas and specific concepts to the White House,”  he said.

Other parts of Trump’s agenda concern California farmers, even if they backed his election. Only half of the state’s farmworkers are authorized to work in the US, a recent survey found. A tariff war with China and other countries could cost California agribusiness $6 billion annually, especially hitting almond and pistachio exports, according to one analysis.

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“I support the America First agenda,” said Bourdeau. “But the pistachio industry is worried. We need to make sure that we can sell our product.” He plans to visit Washington with a group of pistachio growers to discuss the potential impact of tariffs with lawmakers and administration officials.

At the center of Trump’s executive action is a 400-mile water conveyance system known as the Central Valley Project, run by the US Bureau of Reclamation. Along with a separate state-run system, the project transports Sierra Nevada snowmelt and rainwater from the confluence of two major rivers that form the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta.

Scientists say the delta, a critical ecosystem, is collapsing due to drought and water being siphoned off for agriculture and cities. Fish including the delta smelt, Chinook salmon and giant sturgeon are threatened with extinction. Pulling more fresh water from the delta could also allow ocean water to surge in, damaging drinking water.

Trump has ordered his administration to maximize water flows from the delta and expedite potential exemptions to the Endangered Species Act, allowing the Bureau of Reclamation to send more water southward without concern for habitat degradation.

Environmentalists say Trump is using the LA fires as cover to seize more control of the state’s precious water. Most Southern California reservoirs currently have more water than normal for this time of year.

“People are burned out of their homes in Los Angeles, people died, and Trump’s response is to subsidize major agribusinesses,” said Jon Rosenfield, senior scientist with the environmental group San Francisco Baykeeper.

Trump issued his executive order along with a barrage of criticism over California’s water management, calling the smelt an “essentially worthless fish.” The rhetoric wasn’t new. Trump’s focus on California water stems from a yearslong courtship that began during his first presidential campaign, said Johnny Amaral, former chief of staff to Trump confidant Devin Nunes and now an executive at Friant Water Authority, which delivers water to over a million acres of Central Valley farm land.

In 2016, Amaral helped organize a roundtable with Trump and a group of farmers. Trump later toured the valley, a visit he often cites when discussing the state’s water issues. “When you see it with your own eyes, it’s hard to unsee that — it’s maddening,” Amaral said. “I think he saw this problem with his own two eyes and decided that’s a problem that needs to be fixed.”

Among the biggest potential beneficiaries of Trump’s executive order is the Westlands Water District, which covers 1,000 square miles of farmland and relies primarily on delta water to produce almonds, pistachios, and tomatoes, among other crops — generating over $3 billion in sales annually. The district, which consumes more water than the city of Los Angeles, is politically well-connected. Its former lobbyist, David Bernhardt, served as Interior Secretary in Trump’s first administration before returning to the law firm Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, which now serves as Westlands’ general counsel. Bourdeau, the Harris Farms executive, sits on its board of directors.

“The surface water from the Central Valley Project is our lifeblood,” said Allison Febbo, the district’s general manager. She lamented the over 150,000 acres of land left dry due to water restrictions. “We’ve been treated as the end of the line for water supply in California,” she said.

Environmental groups warn that meeting farmers’ demands will further imperil fragile ecosystems. Along with water flows, the order could spur controversial water projects such as raising the massive Shasta Dam in the state’s far north. While that would allow for more water storage, it would also flood lands sacred to Indigenous people and beloved for recreation.

But the real-world impacts of the order remain uncertain. Water flows ultimately depend on rain and snowfall before they reach the network of canals and reservoirs. And any attempt to undo endangered species protections is likely to face court challenges. Another looming factor is Newsom’s response. California controls the State Water Project, which could reduce water flows from the delta to compensate for increased federal outflows under Trump.

For now, however, California farmers are celebrating a president who has turned their water demands into a priority.

“We have the perfect climate, the most ideal growing season, the most fertile land in the country,” said Amaral. “And all you have to do is add water.”

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