FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
March 14, 2001
CONTACT:
Fiona Hutton
V.P., Corporate Communications
(310) 899-4700

CADIZ SETTLES OUTSTANDING LITIGATION WITH WASTE MANAGEMENT

Santa Monica, CA – Cadiz Inc., (Nasdaq: CLCI) announced today that a settlement has been reached with respect to the Company’s claims against Waste Management Inc., ("Waste Management") related to its Rail-Cycle landfill proposal.

Under the terms of the settlement agreement, Waste Management shall grant to Cadiz up to approximately 7,000 acres of property in eastern San Bernardino County and pay Cadiz the sum of $6 million in cash. As per the agreement, Cadiz agrees to dismiss with prejudice all existing claims against Waste Management. These claims were inherited by USA Waste Services, Inc., (now renamed Waste Management) when it merged with the former Waste Management in August 1998.

Cadiz asserted the Rail-Cycle proposal, a plan by Waste Management to develop one of the world’s largest landfills in the eastern Mojave Desert, would pose threats to its neighboring agricultural and water resource operations. During the past five years, Cadiz has initiated a number of civil actions against Waste Management in relation to the Rail-Cycle proposal.

In 1995, Cadiz initiated civil litigation in San Bernardino County Court and sought to halt development of the landfill by overturning the project’s environmental certification, citing it failed to address or acknowledge groundwater resources underlying the Company’s agricultural property. In August 2000, the California Court of Appeal (4th District) ruled the environmental documentation inadequate under the California Environmental Quality Act, revoking all environmental and land-use approvals and effectively terminating the proposed Rail-Cycle project.

Cadiz also filed a civil action in Los Angeles Superior Court in 1998 for compensatory and punitive damages suffered by the Company as a result of the former Waste Management’s activities undertaken against Cadiz in an effort to develop the landfill.

Founded in 1983, Cadiz Inc., is a publicly held water resource management and agricultural firm. With its subsidiary, Sun World International, Inc., Cadiz is one of the largest vertically integrated agricultural companies in California. The Company owns significant landholdings with substantial water resources throughout California. Further information on the Company can be obtained by visiting its corporate web site at www.cadizinc.com.

This release contains forward-looking statements that are subject to significant risks and uncertainties, including statements related to the future operating and financial performance of the Company. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in its forward-looking statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. Factors that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from those reflected in the Company’s forward-looking statements include price and yield fluctuations in the agricultural operations, seasonality, timing and terms of various approvals required to complete the Program, and other factors and considerations detailed in the Company’s most recent Form 10-K, Form 10-Q and other Securities and Exchange Commission filings.

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