Posted on 02/27/2018 7:29:46 PM PST by artichokegrower
The Bay Area should embrace the state’s call Tuesday to make permanent water-wasting rules that were in effect during the last drought. It’s the responsible thing for urban water users to do when the Sierra Nevada snowpack stands at only 20 percent of normal.
But farmers should be required to do their part, too.
(Excerpt) Read more at mercurynews.com ...
Maybe They should use Powdered Water.
AS the article points out the majority of farmers are still using spray irrigation rather than much more efficient drip irrigation. There probably should be financial assistance to help farmers shift into the more efficient method. I love almonds, and the quote below I find very disappointing. Also why 70% of the almonds shipped out of country, when the area is so needful of water?
“During the last drought, from 2012 to 2016, Central Valley farmers doubled their plantings in water-intensive almond orchards to 800,000 acres. Ten percent of the state’s available water supply goes to those almond orchards, or roughly half the water consumed by California’s urban users. Every almond harvested in the Central Valley takes a gallon of water to produce, and 70 percent of the crop is exported, primarily to India and China.
Close down the farms! Who needs food?
And it takes the water from the mountain west, midwest, and other places.
I will just say that if I had the ability, I would allow the local farmers to use the water instead of mandating it get shipped to CA.
I have family that have had to deal with this.
They could just kick the farmers off the land and give it to illegal aliens
Time to watch Chinatown again.
Yep, crooked San Jose politicians and their strip acquisitions. Grab the one foot wide strip down every road, and then take over the land between it via eminent domain and raise the taxes on the farmland to the point where they couldn’t afford to farm and had to sell...to the government’s cronies.
IDefinitely. It’s got what plants crave.
I didn't know each and every almond takes a gallon of water. I'll never look at an almond again. (actually, can that be true? An almond tree has thousands of almonds. Does it take thousands of gallons to irrigate one tree during the annual cycle? Seems like way too much water.)
Almonds are one of those supposed "superfoods." I love them, too. Interesting nutrition facts from 9 Evidence-Based Health Benefits of Almonds.
Almonds boast an incredibly impressive nutrient profile.
A 1 ounce (28 grams, or small handful) serving of almonds contains:
- Fiber: 3.5 grams.
- Protein: 6 grams.
- Fat: 14 grams (9 of which are monounsaturated).
- Vitamin E: 37% of the RDA.
- Manganese: 32% of the RDA.
- Magnesium: 20% of the RDA.
- They also contain a decent amount of copper, vitamin B2 (riboflavin) and phosphorus.
This is all from a small handful, which supplies only 161 calories and 2.5 grams of digestible carbohydrates.
It is also important to note that 10-15% of an almond's calories are not absorbed by the body, because the fat is too difficult to access and break down.
Almonds are also high in phytic acid, a substance that binds certain minerals and prevents them from being absorbed. This means that the amount of iron, zinc and calcium you get from the almonds will be reduced somewhat.
Almonds are a fantastic source of antioxidants. Antioxidants help to protect against oxidative stress, which can damage molecules in cells and contribute to aging and diseases like cancer. The powerful antioxidants in almonds are largely concentrated in the brown layer of the skin.
After thirty years there he is selling out and retiring to Texas, LOL.
Still, it is not just market prices. The way they spent 15 billion on studies instead of storage just blows my mind at the insider money game with your tax money.
Instead of a train to nowhere how about building a few dams?
There is NO other state that wastes taxpayer money like California. We aren’t going to permanently leave, but we are in the process of buying a second home in Idaho so we can spend April to October in a more sane place. The corrupt ultra-liberal politics in CA really gets us down. But the beauty of this place and our lifelong friends here keeps us from permanently relocating. Getting a second home is a good compromise for us. We are fortunate to be able to do that.
rice in the desert.
So generally speaking even if they stop growing rice it would not add to the the amount of water available to people.
They do everything they can to impoverish and rob American Citizens.
Probably making food scarce so they can control and ration it as well.
They will have us in deathgrip soon.
CA farmers don’t import water from the mid west.
That’s absurd.
What little they get from “the mountain west” is the spittle left over in the Colorado River after it passes through Nevada and Arizona...and it’s a very small amount.
All orchards use FLOOD irrigation.
They literally flood it to 6-12 inches deep of water from the irrigation canals, and do so about twice per month.
Some have shifted to drip irrigation but their yields are 1/2 of what they used to be as the roots cannot spread as they used to.
The reason 70% of the almond crop is shipped out is because there are willing buyers all over the world, and few regions that can actually grow them.
That said I believe olives will eventually supplant many of the fruit/nut orchards of the Big Valley. They require 1/10th as much water and produce a PREMIUM oil.
I hope you are right. A medium size bottle of olive oil and a pound bag of almonds are both around $7.
Look at this wiki about the Colorado River Compact.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colorado_River_Compact
I have family in Wyoming, Colorado, and even western Nebraska who have had legal issues over water rights that have been allocated to CA.
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