Sitting in a pickup truck on his almond farm 100 miles north of San Francisco, Tom Butler pointed to a withered grove he has been planning to bulldoze in order to save his little remaining water for younger trees. “It’s not a decision any farmer wants to make,” the 42-year-old said last week. “We’re in survival mode.” California is gripped in severe drought just four years after emerging from the last one , forcing many farmers to scramble to find enough water. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation has cut the water allocations for many to zero this year. Last year, when the latest dry spell began, the same farmers were allocated 20% of what they are contracted to receive annually. Some are responding by letting fields go fallow. “We need 39 days and 39 nights of rain,” said Steve Danley, water manager of the Zumwalt Mutual Water Co., […]