Refining Farmland Appraisals for SGMA and Subsidence Rules in California

California’s new subsidence best management practices (BMPs), drafted under the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act, present a turning point for rural appraisal practice. Traditional reliance on past sales and conventional production assumptions is increasingly inadequate where groundwater cutbacks tied to critical head thresholds may abruptly shorten the economic life of orchards. This paper assesses how BMPs complicate the application of cost, sales comparison, and income approaches and provides guidance on integrating hydrologic indicators, groundwater sustainability criteria, and regulatory risk into appraisal reports.