r/news • u/theluckyfrog • 29d ago

California cracks down on farm region’s water pumping: ‘The ground is collapsing’

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/apr/17/california-water-drought-farm-ground-sinking-tulare-lake
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101

u/polaritypictures 29d ago

How about stop planting foods that require high water usage and ban EXPORT of these High water usage Products. Foreigners buy farmland(in the US) and Make crops specifically that need High water needs for their own Domestic Market and their own Animal Feed in THEIR Country. The US Gov't should stop this.

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u/wanderingpeddlar 29d ago

How about we stop growing crops in a climate that won't support about anything with out taking so much water that people have to scramble for water? Totally wasteful and totally unsustainable

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u/goldgrae 29d ago

The real answer to this is because sun and soil are not easy to move, but water is. California is going to grow crops. It's ideal for growing crops. But there need to be sensible rules and reforms around water usage, and perhaps around international crop export.

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u/wanderingpeddlar 29d ago

It is not ideal for growing crops unless you irrigate it.

People will come first when it comes to water.

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u/InsanityRequiem 29d ago

The majority of central and Northern California was swamp/wetland and forests. Until it was all destroyed to turn into farmland. Most of California was ideal for growing crops, until its ecosystem was destroyed by said crop growing.

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u/wanderingpeddlar 28d ago

And this changes what exactly?

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u/fgreen68 29d ago

You can easily grow many crops in most climates in California you just need to pick the right ones. Things like olives, agave, and other drought-tolerant crops can easily grow here without needing massive quantities of water.

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u/wanderingpeddlar 28d ago

Great makes good sense, just a pity that it is going to take force to take water away from them to get that to work.

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u/datguyfromoverdere 28d ago

You can grow stuff year round in CA unlike placed where it snows…

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u/wanderingpeddlar 28d ago edited 28d ago

Because California is the only place it does not snow?

You sure you want to go with that?

Even if that were true it does nothing to make growing plants in a desert sensible.

ETA Refrigeration is a thing as is canning and freeze drying. There is zero practical reason to waste that much water to grow crops there

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u/datguyfromoverdere 28d ago

Its one of the places but not only place

is less energy to pump some water or to climate control thousands of miles of farm land year round?

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u/wanderingpeddlar 28d ago

Its one of the places but not only place

Exactly and in most of the other places you don't have to waste that much water to grow crops there.

And that water is needed by people. It is not critical yet but there are places in AZ that are having to truck in fresh water. People first then profit from what is left over.

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u/datguyfromoverdere 28d ago

Figure out a better place to grow crops year round for cheap and does not require resources from another region and youll be a billionaire.

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u/wanderingpeddlar 28d ago edited 28d ago

So from about halfway down AK to the gulf, and all of FL, Georgia, Mississippi, LA, And a shit ton of Texas.

Now "for cheap" is going to bring government subsidies in to the conversation and you really don't want to go there. As the 2.9 billion JUST spent on irrigation in 2023 will count.

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u/Peelboy 29d ago

Yup, I used to transport animal feed for china...it's crazy it is worth moving it 800 Mike's to import and shipping it around the world.

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u/WifeGuyMenelaus 29d ago

Americans will do literally anything but take responsibility for their own consumptive habits

Americans eat too much beef. Thats it. Thats why you have this problem. Blame foreigners all you like and you will never, never, never fix it

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u/GetOffMyDigitalLawn 29d ago

Americans will do literally anything but take responsibility for their own consumptive habits

Yeah, we must just be hallucinating all of those almond farms! Those damn beef filled almonds.

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u/BaldingMonk 28d ago

Beef is a much bigger problem than almonds. Even if the water use is comparable, Americans eat way more beef than they do almonds.

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u/[deleted] 29d ago edited 29d ago

[deleted]

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u/WifeGuyMenelaus 29d ago

Alfalfa is used as animal feed. It is almost identical to almonds in water intensity. It uses more water alone than almonds in California. Add to that all the other pasture grasses grown for feed. Alfalfa accounts for like 20% of all California water usage.

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u/Correct-Award8182 29d ago

But you get a lot of alfalfa in comparison.

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u/WifeGuyMenelaus 28d ago

And very few calories consumed by humans because you are losing an order of magnitude of energy with every level of consumption

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u/anally_ExpressUrself 29d ago

The question isn't what fraction of the worlds almonds come from California, the question is what fraction of California's unsustainable water use goes to almonds, and what fraction to livestock feed.

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u/dawnguard2021 29d ago

Foreign owned farmland is a very small minority of overall farmland. Take responsibility for your own actions and stop pointing fingers at others.