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Arizona has some of the largest lettuce farms in the nation. They consume extensive amounts of water. They can be moved to someplace with lots of rain like the
by ab_testing 5y ago
Arizona has some of the largest lettuce farms in the nation. They consume extensive amounts of water. They can be moved to someplace with lots of rain like the Pacific northwest.
- m463 5y agoIs because lettuce grows well with sunshine? I wonder if somewhere with lots of rain would (necessarily) have weaker sunshine and grow lettuce slower, or grow smaller lettuce.
- tempfs 5y agoCalifornia and the other Mexico-bordering states have so much ag in the middle of the desert because of the ready supply of immigrants.
- s0rce 5y agoThere are lots of Mexicans working in ag in Central Washington state and even in Ontario, Canada. Its climate/weather driven not proximity.
- derekbaker783 5y agoFairly similar story in Upstate New York.
- anonAndOn 5y ago> California and the other Mexico-bordering states have so much ag in the middle of the desert because... ... the arable land is flat, sunny, cheap and the government allocated more than all of the Colorado River flow[0] into irrigation systems for them. [1][2] [0]https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/R/R45546 https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/R/R45546 [1]https://www.iid.com/water/water-transportation-system/colorado-river-facilities/all-american-canal https://www.iid.com/water/water-transportation-system/colora... [2]https://www.cap-az.com/about-us/background https://www.cap-az.com/about-us/background
- emodendroket 5y agoThe labor situation is a factor but the arid environment helps with pests and California is basically the ideal environment to grow a lot of things, once you irrigate it. Compare photos of Georgia peaches to California ones and the difference is obvious.
- elite_hackers 5y agoLol I love hacker news :)
- bradleyjg 5y agoFarmers prefer irrigation to rain, it’s controllable. And in the west water is not only free but use it or lose it because of idiotic prior appropriation rules.
- xyst 5y agoor move them to indoor farms
- mythrwy 5y agoTo see if that's logically feasible, visit Yuma and look at the scale of the operations. Or google maps sat view and do some image searches. https://www.google.com/maps/place/Yuma,+AZ/@32.6778769,-114.6160158,19441m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x80d66287214dadd9:0xcfa93a07f59e4258!8m2!3d32.6926512!4d-114.6276916 https://www.google.com/maps/place/Yuma,+AZ/@32.6778769,-114....
- milleramp 5y agoI was going to mention Yuma as well, it’s absolutely amazing to see that much farmland in the desert.
- mythrwy 5y agoThe lettuce farms in Arizona produce during the winter months. They could not be moved the Pacific Northwest for that production period.