Recommended For You
![Jeremy Shepherd (the name came before the job) has been tending to his growing flock since 2009. He sells mutton to local markets but also works his herds as mobile mowers with local farmers in Yolo County. Jeremy Shepherd (the name came before the job) has been tending to his growing flock since 2009. He sells mutton to local markets but also works his herds as mobile mowers with local farmers in Yolo County.](https://www.comstocksmag.com/sites/main/files/imagecache/tile/main-images/farmershep.horizontal.jpg?1577874530)
Wandering Shepherd
Jeremy Shepherd and his always-on-the-go flock
Jeremy Shepherd has been tending to his growing flock since 2009. He sells mutton to local markets but also works his herds as mobile mowers with local farmers in Yolo County.
![A flock of Dunlin fly over “pop up” habitats in the Sacramento Valley
(photo: Drew Kelley for The Nature Conservancy) A flock of Dunlin fly over “pop up” habitats in the Sacramento Valley
(photo: Drew Kelley for The Nature Conservancy)](https://www.comstocksmag.com/sites/main/files/imagecache/tile/main-images/dunlin_flock_4.jpg?1577874530)
Water Foul
The drought is putting in jeopardy efforts to shore up migratory bird populations
Doug Thomas stops his white pickup along the elevated dirt road that carves through the acres of newly planted rice stalks in Wheatland, Calif.
In this scene, replete with a myriad of migratory birds lazily grazing in the green fields, change is soon to come. The landscape, Thomas says, will be transformed into an oasis for waterfowl and shorebirds that will find a man-made wetlands to call home on their annual migration this fall.
![Ongoing drought conditions have cost rice farmer Mike DeWit 30 percent of his crop. He's not alone. This year, California's rice farmers will leave nearly 100,000 acres unplanted due to lack of water. Ongoing drought conditions have cost rice farmer Mike DeWit 30 percent of his crop. He's not alone. This year, California's rice farmers will leave nearly 100,000 acres unplanted due to lack of water.](https://www.comstocksmag.com/sites/main/files/imagecache/tile/main-images/0814_cover_mg_3.jpg?1577874530)
Of Rice and Men
On the Cover: Parched by years of drought, thousands of California’s rice fields lie barren
In the Sacramento Valley, where 97 percent of the state’s rice crop is grown, family farmers have been forced to fallow cropland they have worked for generations. The economic hit has been hard and true, affecting not just farmers, but seed distributors, equipment dealers and anyone else with a thumb in the rice business. The drought could cost Central Valley farmers and communities $1.7 billion this year and may lead to more than 14,500 layoffs.