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Alfalfa is one of the most water efficient crops widely grown. Considerably more efficient than corn, rice, wheat, etc. And while California may export a lot of

Alfalfa is one of the most water efficient crops widely grown. Considerably more efficient than corn, rice, wheat, etc. And while California may export a lot of its alfalfa, it's the exception relative to the rest of the nation. > Based on USDA data for 2021, only 3.9% of all U.S. hay produced and 6.4% of all alfalfa hay entered the export market. [0]: https://www.hayandforage.com/article-3825-Year-end-hay-exports-set-new-records.html#:~:text=Based%20on%20USDA%20data%20for,impacting%20both%20markets%20and%20prices https://www.hayandforage.com/article-3825-Year-end-hay-expor....

nradov 4y ago
Efficient by what metric? Calories? Weight? Profitability? The problem is that due to the system of water rights and allocations, California is effectively subsidizing Saudi Arabia by selling water to local farmers at below market rates. Thus we have a water shortage which impacts everyone while benefiting only a tiny number of farmers. https://www.desertsun.com/story/opinion/contributors/valley-voice/2023/02/05/growing-alfalfa-in-imperial-county-and-california-wastes-water/69860506007/ https://www.desertsun.com/story/opinion/contributors/valley-...
- kolanos 4y ago
  > Deep-Rootedness—alfalfa roots are commonly 3-5 feet deep and can extend to 8-15 feet in some soils. Therefore this crop can utilize moisture residing deep in the profile when surface waters become scarce. It shares this property with crops such as orchards, vineyards, and sugarbeets and safflower, unlike crops such as onion, lettuce and corn, where it's easy to lose water past the root zone. > Alfalfa's deep roots are capable of extracting water from deep in the soil, thus much of the water applied is not wasted. Additionally, deep roots enable the crop to survive periodic droughts. > Perenniality—The fact that the crop grows for 4-8 years, grows quickly with warm conditions in the spring is a major advantage of alfalfa—it can utilize residual winter rainfall before irrigation is necessary. This is unlike summer-grown annual crops that need to be replanted each year (water use efficacy is low during this time). In many areas, the first cutting of alfalfa of the year requires zero irrigation– supported only by rain and residual soil moisture. > Very High Yields—Alfalfa is a very high yielding crop, and can grow 365 days a year in warm regions (such as the Imperial Valley of California and southern Arizona). Its biomass yields are very high—we can get up to 12 cuttings per year in those regions, and growers with top management can obtain more than 14 tons/acre dry matter yields. High-yields create higher water use efficiencies. > High Harvest Index, High Water Use Efficiency—Alfalfa's Water Use Efficiency is not only due to high yields, but because nearly 100% of the above-ground plant material is harvested (known as the harvest index). In most seed-producing and fruiting crops, only a portion of the plant is harvested (typically 30-50% of the total plant biomass). [0]: https://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=17721 https://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=1772...
- kolanos 4y ago
  > The problem is that due to the system of water rights and allocations, California is effectively subsidizing Saudi Arabia by selling water to local farmers at below market rates. Thus we have a water shortage which impacts everyone while benefiting only a tiny number of farmers. The problem is that farmers are being blamed for poor city planning and management. Los Angeles, for example, lets tens of billions of gallons of fresh water flow into the ocean. [0] The farmers are at least using the 40% share of the water they get and in return Californians get affordable food. > According to the Pacific Institute, California's urban areas are letting between 770,000 and 3.9 million acre-feet of water spill away every year (depending on how dry or wet the year is). [0]: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/13/us/california-drought-storms-water-storage.html#:~:text=9%20storm%20alone%2C%20public%20works,from%20the%20Los%20Angeles%20River https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/13/us/california-drought-sto.... [1]: https://www.latimes.com/california/newsletter/2023-01-16/essential-california-stormwater-capture-essential-california#:~:text=It's%20hard%20to%20determine%20how,or%20wet%20the%20year%20is) https://www.latimes.com/california/newsletter/2023-01-16/ess....
  - nradov 4y ago
    A large portion of our fresh water needs to be allowed to flow into the ocean in order to sustain healthy riparian and littoral ecosystems. City governments and residents use relatively little water directly; almost all of it goes to agriculture and industry. Farmers are being blamed because they continue to waste water by failing to adopt more efficient practices such as drip irrigation, and by growing crops that aren't suited to the local climate. Growing alfalfa (and other fodder crops) for export does nothing to provide Californians with affordable food; in fact it does the opposite. We need to move towards a free market solution where all water users pay market rates instead of subsidizing politically favored sectors. If that means that prices rise for certain water-intensive crops then so be it. That's preferable to a water shortage.
    - kolanos 4y ago
      Alfalfa is the poster child for exactly the right crop for the western U.S. climate. Farmers aren't idiots, they know what crops produce the highest yields per gallon of water. The only reason there are water wasting crops like corn is through government subsidies. Alfalfa is not subsidized, yet you want to make that the focus. And California exporting ~20% of their alfalfa is a drop in the bucket relative to the agricultural industry as a whole, seems strange to fixate on that. There isn't a water shortage. Cities are wasting their fresh water through mismanagement. They could syphon off 10% of the runoff to little to no environmental effect, but they don't because there is no political capital to be gained. And water rights are attached to land, it isn't just "given", farmers need to buy, own and maintain the land to preserve their water rights. Which has more free market qualities than any proposal I've heard coming out of the California legislature.

nradov 4y ago

Efficient by what metric? Calories? Weight? Profitability? The problem is that due to the system of water rights and allocations, California is effectively subsidizing Saudi Arabia by selling water to local farmers at below market rates. Thus we have a water shortage which impacts everyone while benefiting only a tiny number of farmers. https://www.desertsun.com/story/opinion/contributors/valley-voice/2023/02/05/growing-alfalfa-in-imperial-county-and-california-wastes-water/69860506007/ https://www.desertsun.com/story/opinion/contributors/valley-...

kolanos 4y ago
> Deep-Rootedness—alfalfa roots are commonly 3-5 feet deep and can extend to 8-15 feet in some soils. Therefore this crop can utilize moisture residing deep in the profile when surface waters become scarce. It shares this property with crops such as orchards, vineyards, and sugarbeets and safflower, unlike crops such as onion, lettuce and corn, where it's easy to lose water past the root zone. > Alfalfa's deep roots are capable of extracting water from deep in the soil, thus much of the water applied is not wasted. Additionally, deep roots enable the crop to survive periodic droughts. > Perenniality—The fact that the crop grows for 4-8 years, grows quickly with warm conditions in the spring is a major advantage of alfalfa—it can utilize residual winter rainfall before irrigation is necessary. This is unlike summer-grown annual crops that need to be replanted each year (water use efficacy is low during this time). In many areas, the first cutting of alfalfa of the year requires zero irrigation– supported only by rain and residual soil moisture. > Very High Yields—Alfalfa is a very high yielding crop, and can grow 365 days a year in warm regions (such as the Imperial Valley of California and southern Arizona). Its biomass yields are very high—we can get up to 12 cuttings per year in those regions, and growers with top management can obtain more than 14 tons/acre dry matter yields. High-yields create higher water use efficiencies. > High Harvest Index, High Water Use Efficiency—Alfalfa's Water Use Efficiency is not only due to high yields, but because nearly 100% of the above-ground plant material is harvested (known as the harvest index). In most seed-producing and fruiting crops, only a portion of the plant is harvested (typically 30-50% of the total plant biomass). [0]: https://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=17721 https://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=1772...
kolanos 4y ago
> The problem is that due to the system of water rights and allocations, California is effectively subsidizing Saudi Arabia by selling water to local farmers at below market rates. Thus we have a water shortage which impacts everyone while benefiting only a tiny number of farmers. The problem is that farmers are being blamed for poor city planning and management. Los Angeles, for example, lets tens of billions of gallons of fresh water flow into the ocean. [0] The farmers are at least using the 40% share of the water they get and in return Californians get affordable food. > According to the Pacific Institute, California's urban areas are letting between 770,000 and 3.9 million acre-feet of water spill away every year (depending on how dry or wet the year is). [0]: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/13/us/california-drought-storms-water-storage.html#:~:text=9%20storm%20alone%2C%20public%20works,from%20the%20Los%20Angeles%20River https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/13/us/california-drought-sto.... [1]: https://www.latimes.com/california/newsletter/2023-01-16/essential-california-stormwater-capture-essential-california#:~:text=It's%20hard%20to%20determine%20how,or%20wet%20the%20year%20is) https://www.latimes.com/california/newsletter/2023-01-16/ess....
- nradov 4y ago
  A large portion of our fresh water needs to be allowed to flow into the ocean in order to sustain healthy riparian and littoral ecosystems. City governments and residents use relatively little water directly; almost all of it goes to agriculture and industry. Farmers are being blamed because they continue to waste water by failing to adopt more efficient practices such as drip irrigation, and by growing crops that aren't suited to the local climate. Growing alfalfa (and other fodder crops) for export does nothing to provide Californians with affordable food; in fact it does the opposite. We need to move towards a free market solution where all water users pay market rates instead of subsidizing politically favored sectors. If that means that prices rise for certain water-intensive crops then so be it. That's preferable to a water shortage.
  - kolanos 4y ago
    Alfalfa is the poster child for exactly the right crop for the western U.S. climate. Farmers aren't idiots, they know what crops produce the highest yields per gallon of water. The only reason there are water wasting crops like corn is through government subsidies. Alfalfa is not subsidized, yet you want to make that the focus. And California exporting ~20% of their alfalfa is a drop in the bucket relative to the agricultural industry as a whole, seems strange to fixate on that. There isn't a water shortage. Cities are wasting their fresh water through mismanagement. They could syphon off 10% of the runoff to little to no environmental effect, but they don't because there is no political capital to be gained. And water rights are attached to land, it isn't just "given", farmers need to buy, own and maintain the land to preserve their water rights. Which has more free market qualities than any proposal I've heard coming out of the California legislature.