Hydro-economic models (HEMs) to examine impacts of climate extremes in California agriculture

Water Economics and Politics Seminar Series
/ Climate change and water resource management

Hydro-economic models (HEMs) to examine impacts of climate extremes in California agriculture

Speaker: Prof. Josué Medellín-Azuara | Associate Director: University of California (UC) Agricultural Issues Center and agronomist, UC Merced Agricultural Experimental Station

Moderator: Dr Mehdi Nemati | School of Public Policy at the University of California, Riverside (UCR), United States

Time: 16:00 South African Standard Time (SAST) | GMT +2

Topic: California’s agricultural productivity relies on its Mediterranean climate, characterised by a dry season suitable for irrigation and a wet season that replenishes surface water. However, precipitation patterns have become increasingly volatile, and temperatures are rising – trends projected to intensify throughout this century. These changes threaten both water supplies and crop yields. We apply hydro-economic models (HEMs) to evaluate the impacts of climate-induced water supply volatility and temperature-driven yield reductions across California’s Central Valley, coastal regions and the Colorado River basin. We also assess water management strategies that can mitigate economic losses, ensuring greater resilience for irrigated agriculture and regional economies under climate stress.

Register to attend

About the speaker: Josué Medellín-Azuara is a Professor in Civil and Environmental Engineering at UC Merced. He also serves as an Associate Director for the UC Davis Center for Watershed Sciences and the UC Agricultural Issues Center, and as an Adjunct Research Fellow at the Water Policy Center of the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC). At UC Merced, he is one of the inaugural agronomist faculty of its Agricultural Experimental Station. His expertise includes water resources management for agriculture, communities and the environment. He is a principal investigator for studies on drought, climate adaptation, consumptive water use, and policy analysis for regulation with emphasis on California, for state and federal agencies, and the National Science Foundation. He has also been on advisory committees on Climate, Managed Aquifer Recharge, the Delta Drought Response Pilot Program, the Delta Science Advisory Board, and the Delta Social Science Task Force in California. Currently, he is a member of the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine Ad Hoc Committee for the Review of the Long-Term Operations of the Central Valley Project and the State Water Project. Professor Medellín-Azuara holds degrees in engineering, business and economics and obtained his Ph.D. from UC Davis with his dissertation on managing environmental flows in the Colorado River Delta.