The San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors recently approved a new voluntary program aimed at reducing groundwater use in the Paso Robles Groundwater Basin, giving local farmers a tool to help balance the region’s water supply.
“Recent challenges in the ag economy, especially in the wine industry, have many grape growers interested in reducing the acreage of their vineyards,” Supervisor Bruce Gibson wrote in a newsletter. “Whether the vines are removed or simply not watered, ‘fallowing’ will reduce the pumping of irrigation water.”
On Feb. 3, the Board of Supervisors approved the voluntary fallowing program through a new registry, officially called the Multi-Benefit Irrigated Land Repurposing Program. Landowners who enroll in the registry can designate portions of their land to be fallowed, meaning temporarily taken out of irrigation.
The Paso basin, a critical source of water for both agriculture and thousands of rural residents, has long faced challenges from overuse. Classified by the Department of Water Resources as a high-priority basin in “critically overdrafted” condition, the area relies heavily on groundwater, with irrigated agriculture accounting for more than 90 percent of the water pumped, according to county documents.
The basin is managed under California’s Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA), which took effect in 2015. Since then, local agencies have been working to develop and implement a Groundwater Sustainability Plan to ensure the long-term viability of the water supply.
The fallowing program is designed to address growers’ concerns over maintaining their water rights and preserving land enrolled in the state’s Williamson Act, which provides property tax reductions for agricultural land maintained in production.
“The voluntary fallowing program is crafted to address the water rights and ag preserve concerns. I’m hopeful of seeing some noticeable water use reductions due through fallowing in the coming irrigation season,” Gibson wrote.
Farmers can voluntarily enroll “farming units” of at least 2 acres in the registry. Participants will have access to satellite-based data to track water use and ensure they maintain neutral water consumption during fallowing periods. Those who violate the water neutrality requirement can be removed from the registry.
According to county documents, the program will also remove regulatory barriers that previously discouraged fallowing. Under the county’s Agricultural Offset Ordinance, growers were required to offset new irrigation with reductions elsewhere and faced a five-year lookback period when stopping irrigation. Enrollment in the registry exempts participants from this lookback, providing more flexibility for land management.
“For parcels in a Williamson Act contract, exemption [is granted] from Williamson Act contract irrigation requirements,” the county staff report said, allowing growers to participate without losing the tax benefits.
The program received support from the Paso Robles Wine County Alliance and builds on ongoing efforts by the local groundwater sustainability agencies that collectively oversee the basin. Together, these agencies formed the Paso Robles Area Groundwater Authority in 2025 to implement the basin’s Groundwater Sustainability Plan.
“Currently, irrigated agriculture uses over 90 percent of the water pumped in the Paso Basin, so these reductions in demand could go a long way in balancing the water budget,” Gibson said. ∆
This article appears in Health & Wellness 2026.
There is an opportunity to align this voluntary program with the State’s Multi-Benefit Land Repurposing grant program (MLRP) to further incentivize landowner participation. To date, the Department of Conservation has awarded $50 million of block grants for irrigated agricultural land repuposing and Prop 4 has an additional $200 million for MLRP.
Their incentive is the ability to retain the right to pump again after fallowing. The heavy pumping from agriculture is why the water table declined, paying them tax payers money as a further incentive is wrong.