I find the article quite disingenuous given it doesn't admit the reality of the situation. If California stops being used to farm cash crops for export outside

I find the article quite disingenuous given it doesn't admit the reality of the situation. If California stops being used to farm cash crops for export outside of California [as it is currently], the "water problem" will mysteriously vanish overnight. Even with droughts. http://aic.ucdavis.edu/pub/exports.html http://aic.ucdavis.edu/pub/exports.html http://ajed.assembly.ca.gov/sites/ajed.assembly.ca.gov/files/Fast%20Facts%20on%20California%27s%20Agricultural%20Economy.pdf http://ajed.assembly.ca.gov/sites/ajed.assembly.ca.gov/files... > In 2013, the total amount of agriculture and livestock products exported from California to the world totaled $13.7 billion. http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/future_tense/2014/05/_10_percent_of_california_s_water_goes_to_almond_farming.html http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/future_tense/2014/0... > By all accounts the current water crisis is far more urgent in the sprawling fields of the Central Valley. And that’s bad news for those of us who enjoy eating daily. Two simple facts explain why: California is the most productive agricultural state in the union, and agriculture uses 80 percent of California’s water. In a year with practically none of the stuff, that’s enough to send ripple effects throughout the country. > Almonds alone use about 10 percent of California’s total water supply each year. That’s nuts. But almonds are also the state’s most lucrative exported agricultural product, with California producing 80 percent of the world’s supply. Alfalfa hay requires even more water, about 15 percent of the state’s supply. About 70 percent of alfalfa grown in California is used in dairies, and a good portion of the rest is exported to land-poor Asian countries like Japan. Yep, that’s right: In the middle of a drought, farmers are shipping fresh hay across the Pacific Ocean. The water that’s locked up in exported hay amounts to about 100 billion gallons per year—enough to supply 1 million families with drinking water for a year.