(AP) — A new state report shows California farmers reaping record sales despite the epic drought, thriving even as city-dwellers have been forced to conserve water, household wells have run dry and fish have died. California's 76,400 farms recorded $53.5 billion in sales in 2014, the year Gov. Jerry Brown declared the state in a drought emergency and launched what in 2015 became mandatory conservation for cities and towns. Experts cite two key reasons for California farms' strong showing even in dry times: a California almond boom fed by surging demand from China and elsewhere, and farmers' ability to dig deeper, bigger wells to pump up more groundwater when other sources run out. Higher costs for water and other expenses of the drought outstripped sales for some farmers, but experts said it is clear many others made strong profits, as evidenced by the rush by growers and corporate investors to get into the almond business and take advantage of a run-up in prices. Jay Lund, a water-resources researcher at the University of California at Davis and an influential voice in water policy in the state that is America's agricultural powerhouse, said the sales figures show that California farmers are doing what they should be doing in a dry spell. Wells in Lopez's neighborhood outside the city of Fresno began running dry a year ago, and his family was forced to buy bottled water until a state relief fund paid to have a large water tank installed next to the home. Federal and state water managers, trying to balance competing demands from farms, cities and the environment, were unable to keep enough water in rivers for California's endangered winter-run Chinook salmon, which have gone through record die-offs.