Related Story: Its Farmers vs. Im all for moving water around, he said. To get there, the pipeline has to cross under a Boswell-controlled canal. Since 2009, the company has transferred or sold 102,000 acre feet of its surface water out of the county, according to records from DWR, Tulare Lake Basin Storage District and the Kern County water agency. SANDRIDGE PARTNERS | 16 followers on LinkedIn. Theyve (Vidovich and Hurley) been way out front on SGMA, Mitchell said. News We are one of the largest vertically integrated almond suppliers in the world. Clearly, much more can be done to slow down this undesirable result.. The Tulare Lake Subbasin groundwater plan references the subsidence and recognizes its a problem, Southwest Kings GSAs letter states. The end result, though, is less water staying in Kings County. People just dont want to face the music.. We partner with private, mostly family owned companies that have: Exceptional management teams with a shared passion to grow and develop their businesses, Operate in interesting niches within the food and agriculture value chain that are growing rapidly, Aligned goals and strict adherence to environmentally, ethically and socially responsible principles, Ability for Sunridge Partners to add value beyond capital, Our customary transaction size is between US$ 15-50 million in equity over the lifetime of an investment. Vidovich is, after all, a powerful landowner in the Central Valley. Comments from the Boswell camp got downright personal, calling out Vidovich by name and all but accusing him of hiding groundwater usage by moving it through pipes outside the area. The case status is Disposed - Dismissed. The. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); (function() { Hes now the president of that powerful panel. His operation is extensive and very smart.. The 5th District Court of Appeal in Fresno has overturned a $73.4 million verdict against McCarthy Family Farms and Bay Area developer John Vidovich and Sandridge Partners involving a land. Five key principles guide us in a unified approach across the food and agribusiness investment landscape: Safeguarding and improving the livelihoods and social wellbeing of individuals producing food and processing agricultural products, Conserving, protecting and enhancing our natural ecosystems, Instilling transparent governance within natural and human systems, Fostering holistic innovation and sustainable growth for all stakeholders. Our stewardship and value creation track-record is unparalleled and our investing, operations and business . All rights reserved. Related Story: Westlands Again Is Eyeing San Joaquin River Water. He recalls that when he was growing up, the region was dotted with small dairies, orchards, rotating crops of corn, cotton and alfalfa, and open grazing land with sloughs that could absorb water in flood years. The Water Board began holding hearings on the issue this past summer. When you first meet John Vidovich, everything from his ball cap to his dirty boots tells you hes a farmer. They are now the driving forces behind two major legal battles over Kings River water. Everyone else is just pumping and pumping, he said. He certainly looks the part in his well-worn jeans and checkered shirts. Water, Latest Click here to read all the comment letters on groundwater sustainability plans submitted to the Department of Water Resources. My business approach right now is to acquire as much water as I can to be diversified in water. Previously, Bilyana spent five years working for the Controllers division at Goldman Sachs in the Investment Accounting and Corporate Accounting teams. Boswell Company and Sandridge Partners, owned by John Vidovich. Typically, irrigation pipelines taking water from one portion of a farmers land to another dont require permitting. To do that, the state requires each area to form Groundwater Sustainability Agencies (GSAs) to account for whats going in and coming out of the aquifer. Sports, Crime For his part, Vidovich is ready for the water pinch. Based in Los Altos, California, De Anza Properties is a collaborative, nationwide firm owned and operated by its Principals. He Toppled Vince McMahon. (See sidebar online.). Boswell has also transferred or sold large chunks of its surface water, both state and Kings River supplies out of the county, over the years. And Kings County doesnt have an ordinance against moving groundwater outside its borders. Looking back, he said he wouldnt make that sale today. Nor for the man who runs it, John Vidovich, nor for his current pipeline project that will move water from various places in Kings County to various other undisclosed locations. Sandridge Partners, controlled by Vidovich, is building a 10-mile-long route on its properties to ship water from its wells in the north to its thirsty fields in the south. John Vidovich, ultimately, followed in his fathers footsteps after obtaining a law degree from Santa Clara University School of Law. Theres a lot of people who dont like me, but nobody didnt like my dad.. That could trigger intervention by the State Water Resources Control Board, SGMAs enforcement arm. Enter your email address to receive INSTANT ALERTS of new articles and to be added to SJV Waters WEEKLY NEWSLETTER. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Heavy equipment blockading a pipeline project from cutting through a canal was ordered removed on Friday and the pipeline project was halted temporarily by a Kings County Superior Court judge. The punitive damage portion, about $73 million, was overturned on appeal and the case has been sent back to Kings County. transferred or sold large chunks of its surface water, Too little or too much, theres always controversy brewing over Kern River water, Kern River water heads north through flood channel but wont hit Tulare Lake yet, Kaweah River water managers prepare for more high water as the valley heats up, Vibration in Isabella Dam power plant causes temporary halt of Kern River outflows. Legendary Valley Thoroughbred Elected to Racing Hall of Fame, Collision Ends Smyly Perfect Game Bid, Cubs Top Dodgers 13-0, Analysis Farmers in Giant Game of SGMA Dodgeball. But the appellate court still found Vidovich liable and he could still have to pay out a major amount. A judge is set to consider the restraining order at a hearing Thursday. Muriel joined in 2022 and provides executive assistant support to the partners. . Vidovich participates on several local water boards, even serving as chair on one. We have an exceptional and experienced customer service and quality control team that supports our efforts and assist our customers with any questions they may have about our products. (Vidovich said he didn't think Sandridge had hit 100,000 acres, total, yet.) They argued that McCarthy Farms breached a contract when they sold the land and water rights to Vidovich and Sandridge Partners, which included members of Vidovichs family. Those plans were posted online and the public comment period recently closed. More recently, he filed a voter initiative in 2016 to allow a 48-foot-tall hotel after the Cupertino City Council shot down a De Anza proposal for building a 105-foot-tall hotel in the western Santa Clara Valley town. Everyone else is leaving.. After Vidovich sold his Dudley Ridge state water, Pace said he drilled several wells in Green Valley, built a pipeline across I-5 and took the valleys groundwater to keep his Dudley Ridge trees alive. Get inside access to SJV Water by becoming a member. It was a permanent water loss for Kings County and put Vidovich under a lingering cloud of suspicion among area farmers and water managers. river water? Its not true, he wants to farm.. The little guy is gone, said Walker, the walnut farmer. As the processing and sales branch of the organization, SunnyGem almonds are sorted, processed and sold to the wholesale ingredient industry. It was kind of a crutch in case I flunked, he said. And that may be true. Four years ago, Dudley sold several thousand acre-feet of its annual State Water Project contract to. Though the Gilcreases expanded to 700 acres at one point, they had to sell off part of their land because they didnt have the water to keep farming it. Avila, along with his wife and children, grows nearly 100 varieties of fruit trees on multiple small plots of land and sells the produce at dozens of farmers markets from Beverly Hills to San Luis Obispo. Vidovich shrugged it off, saying the flaw amounted to putting the descriptions on the wrong pages and quickly appealed. According to legal briefs filed by Tulare Lake, all the floodwater that can be put to beneficial use has been, and theres no leftover water available for Semitropic. The award included $73.4 million in compensatory damages and $55.2 million in punitive damages. In an interview, Vidovich denied sending groundwater out of Kings County. This is what businesses do, he said. He does enough farming in the area to make it look like hes a farmer. He ran, unsuccessfully for city council in his hometown of Los Altos Hills in 2006. You dont know the purpose of this pipeline, Tulare Lake Canal Company attorney Leonard Herr told the judge. Sandridge Partners, controlled by Silicon Valley developer John Vidovich, is a relative newcomer to the region, making large land acquisitions in the last three decades. Smith, Walker and others fear that if large amounts of water continue to move out of Kings with little to no oversight from the state most smaller farmers will be driven out of a part of California they have called home for generations. Water is our blood, he said, and theyre stealing it.. Our team includes leading industry operators and executives as well as a seasoned board of advisors from across the food and agriculture industry. Designed with by Trinity Mobile Apps, Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window), Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window), Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window), Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window), Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window), Click to share on Telegram (Opens in new window), Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window), Click to share on Skype (Opens in new window), From bulldozers to helicopters, Boswell-Vidovich battles continue, Jan. 17 letter to Tulare Lake Canal Company, Too little or too much, theres always controversy brewing over Kern River water, Kern River water heads north through flood channel but wont hit Tulare Lake yet, Kaweah River water managers prepare for more high water as the valley heats up, Vibration in Isabella Dam power plant causes temporary halt of Kern River outflows. His investment firm, Sandridge Partners, has amassed more than 100,000 acres of . We amalgamate our water to use on our most productive land. Over the past 12 years, hes moved about 137,000 acre feet of his state water from Kings County south to nut orchards he owns on the west side of Kern, according to state and other water district records. But its just a cover for taking water out, Pace said. She commenced her career working administratively for a medium sized American oil company until it was bought by BHP Billiton, where she continued as Executive Assistant running the London office of the Chairman & CEO. This article published earlier by our partners Center for Collaborative Investigative Journalism (CCIJ) is part of a collaboration that includes the Institute for Nonprofit News (INN), California Health Report, CCIJ, Circle of Blue, Colorado Public Radio, Columbia Insight, The Counter, High Country News, New Mexico In Depth and SJV Water. Many Kings County farmers, who have watched water leaving their region, wonder if its being sold to Los Angeles. Water Resources Director Karla Nemeth acknowledged she had met with representatives of groundwater agencies regarding allegations that Boswell is aggressively pumping its Kings County lands, because its selling off its state water. Weather. They get some water from the Kings River but rely mostly on groundwater. Latest But hes also moved his State Water Project supplies south to lands he owns in Kern County. None of that has been discussed yet, he stressed. And, importantly, Angiola promised not to take the groundwater outside of Tulare or Kings counties or allow any of its landowners to do so. Vidovich isnt the only pumper in that area, his supporters note. Are They as Bad as Reported? It might be legal, but its not moral, Karen said of water leaving Kings. About 90% of its farms are considered family owned, according to the 2017 US Department of Agriculture farm census. Lukas works across all aspects of the firm from business development to portfolio company operations. That was a permanent water loss to Kings County that many still grumble over. But a pipeline, which Vidovich is allowed to build under the Semitropic agreement, could span that distance. They just do what they want and you have to sue to stop em, Mitchell said. Its happened before, he said, up in Green Valley, which is west of Interstate 5 and a few miles north of the Kern County line. Angiola also doesnt own any water. The title Baron Sandridge was given to Churchill by James II in 1685, and was his first English peerage title (his earlier title, Baron Eyemouth, had been created in 1682 by James . Exactly how much is moving and who is benefitting from it are more murky questions, as water especially river and groundwater in California is notoriously hard to track. Often an equal amount of water splits south, wreaking havoc on farmland in the old Tulare Lake bottom, about 60 miles northwest of Bakersfield. His letter states that if all the groundwater being pumped out of the Tulare Lake subbasin isnt fully accounted for, that could harm other GSAs in the subbasin. HANFORD, Calif. (AP) A Kings County jury has awarded $128.6 million to developers of a proposed solar-powered city who claimed the land sellers broke a contract when they sold the parcels and water rights to someone else. But the letter continued to intrigue Chrissakis. In 2013, the Lower Tule River and Pixley irrigation districts sued Angiola Water District, whose largest landowner is Vidovich, for over pumping groundwater from a well field in Tulare County and moving it outside the county. Both entities are large growers in Kern County as well. To bring it to fruition the district would have to apply to the United States Department of Agriculture or California state revolving fund for money, then build a new treatment facility and construct a line to get its wastewater to the Sandridge line. Hes serious about taking water out of this valley, Pace said. Mavens Notebook is an excellent daily accounting of California water happenings statewide. 2023 www.visaliatimesdelta.com. California produces 99% of all domestic walnuts. Hugues holds a BEng in Applied Maths from the Universite Catholique de Louvain, an MSc in Financial Economics from the University of London, a PhD in Operations Research from the Centre for Operations Research and Econometrics (UCL) / Columbia University and attended INSEADs General Management Program. He often points out that water districts, which oversee water allocations and maintain infrastructure, are public entities, and the public has a right to information, as he told SJV Water in an interview for this story. Resnick also has lands just south of the Kings/Kern county line in Lost Hills and many of Vidovichs detractors believe thats where a lot of that Angiola groundwater is going. Kings County is small by San Joaquin Valley standards only 1,392 square miles, or just about the size of Rhode Island. First off, Hurley said, hes not Vidovichs henchman. Boswell has refused requests to answer questions about the companys water moves including how much it pumps. state water?) Or even to the great water bogeyman that haunts so many valley farmers Los Angeles? Even if I were to move water and sell it, it would be to farming operations.. Ben holds a BComm in Economics and Finance with first class honours (Deans list) from the University of Melbourne and a BCompSc in Computer Science with first class honours from Monash University. Our goal is to supply the highest quality almonds, at competitive prices, to customers worldwide. I did sell water out of Kings County to an urban user and people didnt like it, Vidovich said. On 06/28/2019 SANCHEZ filed a Labor - Wrongful Termination lawsuit against VIDOVICH. The entire San Joaquin Valley, including Kings County, is critically over drafted. Litigation is pending with respect to some of the suspected transfers, but not all., Sandridge is being sued by the Kings River Water Association, which claims it is moving river water outside its rightful place of use.. SunnyGem is the one-stop-shop for your almond needs, packing and shipping California varieties worldwide. He became more involved with De Anza, working with his dad, whom he describes as bigger than life.. Groundwater and floodwater are two very different things. The sprawling Semitropic Water Storage District in Kern County wants Kings River flood water that it says current rights holders are letting flow to the ocean in heavy precipitation years. About 25,000 acre feet of groundwater. And I want to keep farming.. All right reserved. Attorneys for the Tulare Lake Canal Company, controlled by the giant J.G. The difference, according to Vidovich, is Sandridge is letting some of its Kings County lands go fallow, while, he says, Boswell is pumping additional groundwater to continue farming its Kings County acreage. The titans behind the comments are J.G. Not according to Jeoff Wyrick, Chairman of the El Rico GSA, the largest GSA in the Tulare Lake Subbasin. In fact, Vidovich frequently moves water by pipeline, Pace said, pointing to a massive line Vidovich installed that appears to take Angiola groundwater through his Dudley Ridge lands. nor its destination. Levees were built in 1983 to protect Corcoran from Kings River floodwater. While he was just starting out, he also enlisted in the Navy and served in the reserves for six or eight years, he cant recall the exact term. A strong, diverse farming sector is vital to the local economy and food security and it requires water. Its unclear, though, if thats the litigation Wyrick is referring to as he did not return numerous phone calls and emails from SJV Water seeking comment. The city sued. Lukas works across all aspects of the firm from business development to portfolio company operations. There, a company he controls, Sandridge Partners, grows . What Will Become of Fallowed Valley Farmland? Im a small guy over here and the big-time guys, well I thought they were big at 10,000 acres, even theyre selling out.. Your California Privacy Rights / Privacy Policy. A 2020 groundwater sustainability report shows that over the previous five years, agriculture in Kings County relied on an average of about 319,000 acre feet from local rivers and streams, 475,000 acre feet from groundwater and just 37,000 acre feet of state water. Those figures dont include recent land purchases hes made in the Kern Delta Water District and Fresno Irrigation District both areas Sandridge is targeting for even more land purchases because of its solid rights to the Kern and San Joaquin rivers. Sandridge owns the property that the canal cuts through, he said. But this much he knows certain groundwater wells in the county are running practically year round, even in wet years. David Avila is a talkative 75-year-old of Portuguese ancestry whose family first came to California in the 1840s and has been farming in the Hanford area since around 1900. Package options range from 25lb cartons to 2,200lb super sacks. That information also isnt contained in groundwater plans for the El Rico Groundwater Sustainability Agency, which covers Boswell lands almost exclusively. Page met Vidovich in 2005 when Page was farming 400 acres out near Wasco. Vidovich has been buying land in the Central Valley for more than 20 years. Left, a cracked, ripened walnut skin at Steve Walker Farms in Hanford, California. Kings Officials Unhappy About Water Proposal, Local Water Guys Eyeing Kings River Flood Water. Designed with by Trinity Mobile Apps, use of the heavy equipment to stop the pipe project is not a protected tactic under the law., Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window), Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window), Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window), Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window), Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window), Click to share on Telegram (Opens in new window), Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window), Click to share on Skype (Opens in new window), Gov.s proposed $40 million for farmland retirement is welcome but more needed, Boswell bulldozers allowed to stay put, blocking Kings County pipeline project, SJV Water about this new pipeline, Vidovich. Previously, Ben spent three years working with Boston Consulting Group as a Senior Associate in London and Melbourne. Whether those pipes end on Vidovich lands or Resnicks is hard to know. Sunridge Partners provides patient capital, deep industry expertise and a hands-on approach to achieving outsized returns for all stakeholders. All right reserved. Partnership Credit Card accounts: John Lewis plc is a credit broker and not a lender, introducing the Partnership Credit Card under exclusive arrangements with the lender NewDay Ltd. And, in a rare break with tradition, theyre doing it in public. Weve all seen it, said walnut farmer Steve Walker. One of Angiolas main well fields is actually inside the Pixley Irrigation District boundaries where water managers were concerned by the amount of water leaving their district. Though Vidovich didnt feel state water movement would substantially impact Kings County farming, he still predicted farming will shrink there. Construction of the pipeline, on land owned by Sandridge Partners, is causing concern among Kings County farmers and others. The Kings River Water Association, including the Tulare Lake Basin Water Storage District, where Boswell is the majority landowner, are fighting the plan saying all available water is already being used. Right, smoke from local fires mutes the South San Joaquin Valley sky over I-5 and farms operated by . So, it went old school and blocked the pipeline with bulldozers, trucks and excavators. The most recent Boswell-Vidovich beef joins at least two other ongoing legal battles over water. We welcome you to contact us to discuss how we might partner to create mutually beneficial opportunities in the agribusiness sector. Bilyana holds a BSc in Management with first class honours from Cass Business School and is an ICAEW Chartered Accountant. Yes, critics agree, but Boswell uses that water to irrigate in the district. The corporations and the bigger guys are buying up land left and right for astronomical prices, Smith said. Philipp began his career at Goldman Sachs, where he advised public and private companies in European real estate, lodging and gaming sectors on strategic and financial matters. Hugues Marchand is an investment professional with more than 15 years of principal investing experience, primarily in the infrastructure sector across Europe, North America and Africa. The Kings River Water Association, where Boswell is a major rights holder, is suing Tulare Lake Reclamation District 761, controlled by Vidovich, for shipping its Kings River water to Dudley Ridge. Anything that has water on it, youre going to contend with big money. That includes land with river rights, state water contracts or even just groundwater. Avila says corporations are gobbling up the land to plant more permanent crops and draining the countys water in the process.
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