Note 12 - Commitments and Contingencies

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2014

Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]

Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Text Block]

NOTE 12 – COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES

The Company leases equipment and office facilities under operating leases that expire through January 2016. Aggregate rental expense under all operating leases was approximately $202,000, $219,000 and $343,000 in the years ended December 31, 2014, 2013 and 2012, respectively. At December 31, 2014, the future minimum rental commitments under existing non-cancelable operating leases totaled $182,000 due during the year ending December 31, 2015.

In the normal course of its agricultural operations, the Company handles, stores, transports and dispenses products identified as hazardous materials. Regulatory agencies periodically conduct inspections and, currently, there are no pending claims with respect to hazardous materials.

The Company entered into a Services and Exclusivity Agreement with Layne Christensen Company (“Layne”) on November 2, 2009. The agreement provides that the Company will contract exclusively with Layne for certain water related services, including drilling of boreholes, drilling of monitoring wells, completion of test wells, completion of production wells, and completion of aquifer, storage and recovery wells. In exchange for the Services and Exclusivity Agreement, Layne has agreed to forego $923,000 for work performed. This amount continues to be recorded as an other long-term liability as of December 31, 2014, and will be credited toward future work performed during the construction phase of the Water Project.

Pursuant to cost-sharing agreements that have been entered into by participants in the Company’s Water Project, $750,000 in funds has offset costs incurred in the environmental analysis of the Water Project. These funds may either be reimbursed or credited to participants participation in the Water Project and, accordingly, are fully reflected as deferred revenue as of December 31, 2014.

In California, third parties have the ability to challenge California Environmental Quality Act approvals in State Court, and, in 2012, the Company was named as a real-party-in-interest in nine lawsuits challenging the various Water Project approvals granted by the Santa Margarita Water District (“SMWD”) and San Bernardino County (the “County”). In 2013, three cases were dismissed or otherwise settled. Trial in the six remaining cases, which were brought by two petitioners, began in December 2013 and concluded in February 2014. In September 2014, the Court issued final signed judgments (“Judgments”) formally denying all claims brought in the six lawsuits. The Judgments upheld the environmental review and approvals of the Water Project and also awarded costs to SMWD, the County, Cadiz and Fenner Valley Mutual Water Company as the prevailing parties in the cases. The Judgments served as the Court’s final actions in the six cases. 

During the fourth quarter of 2014, the petitioners filed independent appeals of the six Judgments in the California Court of Appeals, Fourth District. These appeals were anticipated and are expected to be heard by the Appeals Court in 2015. The appeals process is not projected to have any impact on the Company’s ongoing implementation and pre-construction activities for the Water Project.

There are no other material legal proceedings pending to which the Company is a party or of which any of the Company’s property is the subject.