Environment & Energy
Related: About this forumIt Takes How Much Water to Grow an Almond?! {very, very large images}
http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2014/02/wheres-californias-water-goingCalifornia, supplier of nearly half of all US fruits, veggies, and nuts, is on track to experience the driest year in the past half millennium. Farms use about 80 percent of the state's "developed water," or water that's moved from its natural source to other areas via pipes and aqueducts.
As the maps above show, much of California's agriculture is concentrated in the parts of the state that the drought has hit the hardest. For example: Monterey County, which is currently enduring an "exceptional drought," according to the US Drought Monitor, grew nearly half of America's lettuce and broccoli in 2012.
When it comes to water use, not all plants are created equal. Here's how much water some of California's major crops require:
stuntcat
(12,022 posts)The price will be going up I guess going up a lot.
progressoid
(50,011 posts)hedgehog
(36,286 posts)I read the label and it was made with California almonds.
malthaussen
(17,230 posts)... I had no idea California produced 90% of US tomatoes.
-- Mal
MyNameGoesHere
(7,638 posts)on most veggie production. And Spain can pick up the slack on almonds.
Catherine Vincent
(34,491 posts)Hopefully those R's that constantly state they want CA to fall into the ocean or some nonsense like that will read that article.
rwsanders
(2,613 posts)Last edited Mon Feb 24, 2014, 05:06 PM - Edit history (1)
And as long as they can eat their fries w/o ketchup they'll never notice.
Tater tots are a veggie yaknow (Thanks Bush).
proverbialwisdom
(4,959 posts)From: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Robyn-OBrien/93865123205
Half of U.S. Farmland Being Eyed by Private Equity
By Carey L. Biron
WASHINGTON, Feb 19 2014 (IPS) - An estimated 400 million acres of farmland in the United States will likely change hands over the coming two decades as older farmers retire, even as new evidence indicates this land is being strongly pursued by private equity investors.
Mirroring a trend being experienced across the globe, this strengthening focus on agriculture-related investment by the private sector is already leading to a spike in U.S. farmland prices. Coupled with relatively weak federal policies, these rising prices are barring many young farmers from continuing or starting up small-scale agricultural operations of their own.
"This is no longer necessarily about food at all, but rather is a way to reap financial profits."
-- Anuradha Mittal
In the long term, critics say, this dynamic could speed up the already fast-consolidating U.S. food industry, with broad ramifications for both human and environmental health.
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A HERETIC I AM
(24,381 posts)I don't know if the water use figures include that, but to make all the orchards and vineyards turn from the brown they are now to the vibrant green they are when harvest time comes....
It is amazing how much water is used, no doubt.
JEB
(4,748 posts)We need to stop wasting so much water. How much water goes to golf?
eppur_se_muova
(36,317 posts)I remember reading in "Cadillac Desert" that some of the irrigation water in CA is 90% subsidized (*may be outdated info*), without which these corporate farms couldn't compete with Eastern farms. The result is that water is wasted on crops that use water very inefficiently -- even diverted to horse pasturage !
Tumbulu
(6,292 posts)also turning CO2 into oxygen, which we all need. Veggies use huge amounts of water, the row crops less, and tree crops even less per acre. Most of the almonds are on drip systems.
If the water as not being used to grow plants, which sequester carbon, where would we be? Where will we be this year with such a vast area in the west not getting water and thus not growing the plants that we are depending on to take up some of this excess CO2?