Drought in California--and China Gets Blamed

choi

戴维•威利斯, 记者来鸿：大旱、杏仁、中国效应
BBC Chinese, Nov 26, 2014
www.bbc.co.uk/zhongwen/simp/fooc ... _california_almonds

, which is translated from

David Willis, How Almonds Are Sucking California Dry. BBC, Nov 15, 2014.
www.bbc.com/news/magazine-30052290

Quote:

"the vast majority of the water used here goes not to households but to support California's economic mainstay - agriculture.

"Not surprisingly, perhaps, given their growing fan base, the farmers of California's Central Valley have been planting them like there's no tomorrow.

"The problem is that California's entire almond crop commands a stunning 1.1 trillion gallons of water every single year. That's twice as much as it takes to grow cotton or tomatoes, and enough - I am reliably informed - for you or me [a single person, not the entire state of, say, California] to take a 10-minute shower every day for the next 86 million years.

"Nearly 70% of the almonds produced in California are for export. And where do most of them end up? China. This does little to quell criticism that the Chinese - with their booming economy - may soon, quite literally, be sucking this place dry.

My comment: There is no need to read the rest.

choi

(1) Alex Park and Julia Lurie, It Takes How Much Water to Grow an Almond?! Why California's drought is a disaster for your favorite fruits, vegetables, and nuts. Mother Jones, Feb 24, 2014.
www.motherjones.com/environment/ ... fornias-water-going

(2) Eric Holthaus, The Thirsty West: 10 Percent of California’s Water Goes to Almond Farming; That’s nuts. Slate, May 14, 2014.
www.slate.com/articles/technolog ... almond_farming.html

Quote:

"California is the nation’s leading producer of almonds, avocados, broccoli, carrots, cauliflower, grapes, lettuce, milk, onions, peppers, spinach, tomatoes, walnuts, and dozens of other commodities, according to a 2012 Department of Agriculture report. The state produces one-third of our vegetables and two-thirds of our nuts and fruits each year. While fields in iconic agricultural states like Iowa, Kansas, and Texas primarily produce grain (most of which is used to fatten animals), pretty much everything you think of as actual food is grown in California. Simply put: We can’t eat without California.

"Agriculture here isn’t the endless fields of corn and wheat of my childhood. Thanks to California’s unique climate, fields here are comprised almost entirely of high-value cash crops [including grapes to make wine, and citrus].

"a crisscrossing network of irrigation ditches, most of which were dry [nowadays, as California is in severe drought].

"Farmers in California are forced peven without drought] to irrigate because of a fundamental seasonal mismatch: The vast majority of the rain and snow comes in the winter and the best growing conditions (sunlight, warmth) of California’s temperate Mediterranean climate are in the summer.

fruit trees "take years to mature and can bring 10 times more money per acre" than vegetables

"California as a whole diverts or pumps 43 million acre-feet of water each year to supplement its meager rainfall. In total, agriculture [in California] consumes 34 million acre-feet of that. (An acre-foot is just what it sounds like: the amount of water needed to cover an acre of flat ground up to a foot, or about 325,000 gallons of water.) In 2013, there were 940,000 acres of almonds in California, according to the USDA. Each acre of almonds uses three to four acre-feet of water each year

"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.

"As this viral infographic [which is (1)] from Mother Jones shows, it takes more than a gallon of water to grow a single almond, and it may take 220 gallons of water to produce a large avocado. But pound-for-pound, there’s an order of magnitude more water needed to get meat and dairy to your plate. A stick of butter requires more than 500 gallons of water to make. A pound of beef takes up to 5,000 gallons. More than 30 percent of California’s agricultural water use either directly or indirectly supports growing animals for food.

"The shocking truth is, California is the last state that doesn’t regulate groundwater pumping, even as supplies are dwindling. [The outcome is Central Valley is sinking fast.]

"One short-term answer is more efficient methods, like drip irrigation. The problem is, irrigation technology has gotten so good that typically the end result is increased yields. And the more efficient the irrigation, the less water gets into the soil for groundwater recharge.


My comment:
(a) The quotation above comes from Web page 1, so you need not read that page. However, it is recommended that you read Web page 2, starting with paragraph 4 of that page about Mr Ward Burroughs.
(b) Denair, California
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denair,_California
(renamed from Elmwood Colony to Denair in honor of a local landowner, John Denair)
(c) “It’s like someone cut in front of you in line at the In-N-Out."

In-N-Out Burger
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In-N-Out_Burger
(Headquarters  Irvine, California)
(d) “I was born and raised in the Delta area, where saltwater intrusion is a huge issue” in a drought: The water got too salty.

Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacramento–San_Joaquin_River_Delta
(formed * * * by the confluence of the Sacramento [qv, to have a bigger picture] and San Joaquin rivers and lies just east of where the rivers enter Suisun Bay; Geologically, it is not considered a true river delta, but rather an inverted river delta [qv])