FRESNO COUNTY, Calif. (KSEE/KGPE) – While an increase in the California State Water allocations is good news, most of the central valley farmers rely on federal water allocations, to water crops.

“ Right here in the prime of the San Joaquin Valley, we are very dependent on federal water allocations,” said Ryan Jacobsen CEO of the Fresno County Farm Bureau.

Friday’s announcement by Governor Newsom is likely a good sign when the federal allocation is announced in a couple of weeks.

“This state water project announcement is at least an indication of what we may see when it comes to the federal water allocation announcement,” said Jacobsen.

Federal allocations feed Fresno Madera Merced and Tulare counties while Kings and Kern counties get both federal and state allocations.

Last year the final federal allocation ended up at zero, and the California state allocation was only five percent, while Fresno county farmers depended almost totally on groundwater for irrigation.

With the snowpack at around 200 percent of normal Jacobsen is wondering if 100 percent allocations aren’t announced for this year, when will they be?

“Overall, I was a little disappointed that the state water project was only 75 percent I would of expected it to be higher if not a hundred percent based on the conditions right now,” said, Jacobsen.

He continued “Because every piece that were able to increase those allocations, it means more water supply were able to bank for future years whether that above ground storage or below ground storage,”.

Governor Newsom says even with record snowfall determining the state’s drought status is always difficult. “Are we out of the drought, is the drought over in the state of California, is the drought over, while I want to affirm it, it continues to be complicated,” said Newsom.