4 ms·
The article was wrong in stating that pretty much all the agricultural was usage was for food. 15-20% of the water is for growing alfalfa. That may be cow foo
by russell 11y ago
The article was wrong in stating that pretty much all the agricultural was usage was for food. 15-20% of the water is for growing alfalfa. That may be cow food, but it is a huge waste of water. A lot of press is given to the fact that 10% of the water is used for almonds, but they are at least a a high value crop. Another high water usage crop is cotton, again not food. Give it back to the South. And rice; you have to be nuts to grow rice in the desert. It's not worth destroying the aquifers for such crops.
- xraystyle 11y agoAlmonds aren't that high-value. Agriculture in total accounts for 2% of the state's GDP. I'm guessing less than 5% of all ag in the state is almonds. The California economy is expanding at faster than 2% per year currently. I'm pretty sure we could tell the almonds to take a hike and not even notice.
- greeneggs 11y ago"I'm guessing less than 5% of all ag in the state is almonds." Based on what? Are you just making up numbers? By round numbers, it seems to be around 10% of agriculture. This report states that it is 15%, but the report is funded by the Almond Board and is probably making generous assumptions [1]. [1] http://aic.ucdavis.edu/almonds/Economic%20Impacts%20of%20California%20Almond%20Industry_Full%20Report_FinalPDF_v2.pdf http://aic.ucdavis.edu/almonds/Economic%20Impacts%20of%20Cal...
- tbabb 11y agoLet's not forget that orchards represent many years of investment. Killing an orchard has a much, much higher cost than simply choosing to grow a different yearly crop.