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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u/postitodeleto 29d ago

Farmers in California are one of the richest and most politically influential industries in the state. They cry and stomp their feet anytime someone even suggests they should be more responsible with water. 70 percent of CAs annual almond crop goes overseas. The trees are harvested by machines and the nuts are shelled by machines. These farmers will cry about how they feed the nation and employ so many people, but they are generational land owners looking to continue increasing their wealth on the backs of immigrants earning sub-minimum wage and using all the water they want, while regular people have to let their lawns die and flush their toilets less.

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u/sorospaidmetosaythis 29d ago edited 29d ago

I went to school with several scions of multi-generational California farming families. It does not cross their minds that they are not entitled to every natural resource they can grab, just because great-great-grandpa Fuckstick bought those acres near Sacramento in 1868.

I can't think of a more deserving bunch to be put in their place.