4 ms·

I find it hard to believe that only 20% of crops in the US are irrigated. I'd think that with warming and water wars, it would be adapting from above crop irri

• cmrdporcupine 3y ago
  The midwest and much of the northeast doesn't, in general, need irrigation. It's millions of acres of rain-fed soy and corn rotation, and it'd be likely impractical/impossible to irrigate it at scale anyways. (Which is what the article seems to be about, though I question their numbers...)
  • saalweachter 3y ago
    If I had to guess, it's basically going to be determined by the Dry Line -- there's basically a line down the middle of the United States where, to the west, little rain falls, and to the east, plenty does. This line has been moving east, if I recall correctly, and if we don't irrigate more we're losing land from the breadbasket.
    • AnimalMuppet 3y ago
      That line is, essentially, the 100th meridian. It also lines up with the western edge of the Gulf of Mexico. West of that, water has to come from the Pacific, left over after the Sierras and the Rockies take out much of it. As you say, though, the line seems to be moving east at least a bit. Maybe wind patterns coming north out of the Gulf of Mexico are shifting?