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Some responders have challenged my assertion that Sacramento is a desert. I concede the point - it's actually classified as Mediterranean. That said, rice cons
by Nifty3929 2y ago
Some responders have challenged my assertion that Sacramento is a desert. I concede the point - it's actually classified as Mediterranean.
That said, rice consumes a lot of irrigation water:
"In California, there is very little to no rainfall
during the rice growing season, so this is not
usually considered in water budgets. On average,
about 5 acre feet/acre (AF/ac) of irrigation water
is applied to a rice field during the growing"
https://ucanr.edu/sites/RiceTestSite/files/328501.pdf https://ucanr.edu/sites/RiceTestSite/files/328501.pdf
Also, rice is not a particularly big water consumer compared to other crops - it's just one that came to mind. You could pick from dozens of others - Almonds, pistachios, etc.
California simply uses a LOT of water to produce a LOT of food, about half of it being exported.
- yimby2001 2y agoAre you saying California shouldn’t export food? It’s one of the best food growing environments on the planet.
- fakedang 2y agoWell if you wish for California to become the next Sahelian desert, sure. California is already on track to become one adverse climate event away from turning into a complete clusterfuck.
- mapt 2y agoCA's central valley is missing ~140 million acre feet of groundwater relative to historical norms, and is pumping an additional ~15 million acre feet a year. Ban that and desalinate 30 million acre feet of oceanwater at $2000 per acre-foot and you can have your cake and eat it too at a cost of 60 billion dollars a year, expand agriculture and develop a sustainable aquifer & watershed. But central valley agriculture only makes $37 billion a year.