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Alfalfa farming uses 40% more water than all lawns in the entire state of California. If every California resident paid $5 per year, they could buy out the enti
by ggreer 2y ago
Alfalfa farming uses 40% more water than all lawns in the entire state of California. If every California resident paid $5 per year, they could buy out the entire alfalfa industry and never have to worry about residential or commercial water usage.[1]
California doesn't have a shortage of water. It just allocates water in an extremely inefficient manner.
1. https://slatestarcodex.com/2015/05/11/california-water-you-doing/ https://slatestarcodex.com/2015/05/11/california-water-you-d...
- dcrazy 2y agoOk, but the alfalfa gets eaten. A lawn doesn’t.
- snakeyjake 2y agoI don't really mind agricultural consumption because there has never not been enough water for human consumption. And agricultural water consumption produces food. You can't eat a lawn, or a swimming pool, or a long shower. Well, I suppose you can try to eat anything once but the point stands. There are very few places as ideally suited to agriculture as California so the water distribution priorities should be: 1. Humans: drinking and cooking 2. Farms 3. Humans: personal hygiene 4. Nothing this far down really matters so I don't care if they get a single drop. yes that includes data centers ps: kill your lawn Also, I don't care if #2 gets 99.999999999% of the water and the agribusinesses make a quadrillion dollars so long as #1's (and #3's) needs are met.