Despite a few days of rain around here recently, California is heading into its worst drought in decades, while water supplies through pumping systems are also dropping. That’s making farmers fallow or abandon their crops, and that will mean higher prices for produce this year.

Richard Howitt, a professor of agriculture economics at UC Davis, estimates that $1.6 billion in agriculture-related wages and as many as 60,000 jobs across the valley will be lost in the coming months due to dwindling water.