Jeff Sutton, general manager of the Tehama-Colusa Canal Authority (TCCA), knows first-hand how impactful drought can be to California farms and ranches and how devastating it can be to the rural communities that rely on an agricultural economy that provides the food and fiber for our nation and the world.

TCCA is comprised of 17 water contractors spanning four counties (Tehama, Glenn, Colusa, and Yolo) along the west side of the Sacramento Valley, with a service area of 150,000 acres, producing over $250 million in crops per year, and contributing over $1 billion to our regional economy annually.

Jeff is also a long-time member of the Family Farm Alliance Advisory Committee, and a strong advocate for storage projects – like the proposed off-stream Sites Reservoir project in Northern California – that can provide multiple benefits to multiple sectors.

Extensive modeling has indicated that Sites Reservoir actually performs better, and provides even greater water supply benefits to farms, people, and the environment of California, under even the most challenging climate change scenarios.

Check out Jeff’s guest column here, which was recently published in the Chico (CA) Enterprise-Record.