The Thirsty West: 10 Percent of California’s Water Goes to Almond Farming (Slate)

[pinto]

The Thirsty West: 10 Percent of California’s Water Goes to Almond Farming

By Eric Holthaus

Denair, Calif.—In California’s vast Central Valley, agriculture is king. But the king appears fatally ill, and no worthy replacement is in sight, as the area noticeably reverts into the desert it was little more than a century ago.

As I’ve already discussed in the Thirsty West series, city-dwelling Californians are a bit insulated from near-term water shortages thanks to the state’s intricate tentacles of aqueducts, pipelines, and canals that divert water from the snowcapped Sierras to the urban core along the coast. Rapid population growth looms ominously, but for now, you’ll still be able to brush your teeth in Oakland and Burbank.

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.

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 (PDF). 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. But as climate change–fueled droughts continue to desiccate California, the short-term solution from farmers has been to double down on making money.

http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/future_tense/2014/05/_10_percent_of_california_s_water_goes_to_almond_farming.html

[KamaAina]

1. A lot of those crops could be grown elsewhere

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

New Jersey tomatoes, for example, are delicious. And Wisconsin could certainly step up in dairy. It's just that, thanks to artificially cheap water, California is outcompeting them. I remember one year back in the '90s when there was flooding (believe it or not! ) in the Salinas Valley, as made evident by the sign at Subway in New Haven that said "Due to flooding in California, we may not have enough lettuce to put on your sandwich." That's what happens when we put all our eggs (and lettuce) in one basket.

[marble falls]

2. And should be grown elsewhere!

[Auggie]

3. Almonds are a very lucrative crop ... just recently I read that some farmers

were pulling out grape vines and planting almond orchards!

[KamaAina]

4. And we produce well over half of the world's supply

[Auggie]

5. Interesting video on California's Central Valley:

Focus is on how people are affected, but I found the section on archaeic water rights the most interesting

[Brother Buzz]

7. Certainly the appellation is a consideration

No one in their right mind would pull healthy wine grapes out in the Napa Valley that command $5000-6000 a ton, but I could see it happening in the Central Valley where the wine grapes can be had for a whopping $300-400 a ton.

In my area walnuts orchards are being yanked out willy-nilly, and being replaced with almond.

[Auggie]

12. Yes. This is happening in the Central Valley, not North Coast.

[Brother Buzz]

13. I understand in the arid west side of the San Joaquin Valley....

an area totally dependent on delivered water (can you say desert?), the smart far looking growers are yanking out the older almond trees and putting in drought resistant olive trees. I expect to see an olive oil boom within the decade with a California Olive Oil Advisory Board pitching an ad campaign that will rival the California Milk Advisory Board commercials. Bank on it.

[pinto]

14. Sounds like a good long term approach for the west side of the Valley.

Tough market - getting a "CA brand" rep may be key. I'm no olive or olive oil aficionado, but I know there a numerous varietals, oil blends, etc.

[Auggie]

16. Good. Maybe the cost of decent olive oil will come down as well.

[Brother Buzz]

17. 97 percent of the olive oil consumed in the United States is imported.

and it's mostly crap. Most of the imported oil has no 'nose', no smell, and little flavor, and the public has no clue what they're missing. I'm hoping California olive oil targets the quality niche market and drives the price of crap imported oil down.

That crap imported oil is fine for most cooking, but once you experience the awakened flavors in an omelet cooked with olive oil that has a pippin apple nose with an avocado finish you'll never go back.

[Auggie]

18. +1

[pinto]

8. Yeah, the market and demand is very good for almonds.

Not sure what a fair balance is here.

[KamaAina]

19. Would you believe alfalfa? For EXPORT?!

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/08/opinion/meat-makes-the-planet-thirsty.html

But for those truly interested in lowering their water footprint, those numbers pale next to the water required to fatten livestock. A 2012 study in the journal Ecosystems by Mesfin M. Mekonnen and Arjen Y. Hoekstra, both at the University of Twente in the Netherlands, tells an important story. Beef turns out to have an overall water footprint of roughly four million gallons per ton produced. By contrast, the water footprint for “sugar crops” like sugar beets is about 52,000 gallons per ton; for vegetables it’s 85,000 gallons per ton; and for starchy roots it’s about 102,200 gallons per ton.

Factor in the kind of water required to produce these foods, and the water situation looks even worse for the future of animal agriculture in drought-stricken regions that use what’s known as “blue water,” or water stored in lakes, rivers and aquifers, which California and much of the West depend on....

Unfortunately, it’s a plant that’s not generally cultivated for humans: alfalfa. Grown on over a million acres in California, alfalfa sucks up more water than any other crop in the state. And it has one primary destination: cattle. Increasingly popular grass-fed beef operations typically rely on alfalfa as a supplement to pasture grass. Alfalfa hay is also an integral feed source for factory-farmed cows, especially those involved in dairy production.

If Californians were eating all the beef they produced, one might write off alfalfa’s water footprint as the cost of nurturing local food systems. But that’s not what’s happening. Californians are sending their alfalfa, and thus their water, to Asia. The reason is simple. It’s more profitable to ship alfalfa hay from California to China than from the Imperial Valley to the Central Valley. Alfalfa growers are now exporting some 100 billion gallons of water a year from this drought-ridden region to the other side of the world in the form of alfalfa. All as more Asians are embracing the American-style, meat-hungry diet.

[LeftyMom]

6. They're also grown in one of the wettest parts of the valley.

And are used for firewood as a side business as the trees become unproductive and are torn out. The other big "crop" along hwy 70 where the almond orchards are is racehorses.

The next growing region immediately south grows rice and is largely unsuitable for anything else because it floods regularly.

Lectures on how California agriculture "should" work (or how we need to fart out an entirely new water distribution system, desalination plants and the power to run it all using magic beans or something) from people who couldn't find hwy 70 without GPS are getting on my last nerve.

[pinto]

9. Rice is a good crop for flood plains, given some rain.

[LeftyMom]

10. It's grown in areas that are also flooded to reduce water levels when the rivers are high.

And is a major part of the bird migration down the valley.

Even this year some of that area had to be flooded for short periods (a few weeks) so that the birds would have somewhere to stop. z

You have to keep in mind that the usual water problem in the Central Valley is keeping it out of your house.

[pinto]

11. The Central Valley is a major West Coast "flyway" for many migratory birds.

Apparently they move up from Mexico or points south, travel the valley on through the Sac delta and head up to summer feeding and nesting grounds.

[DFW]

15. Massachusetts would love to help

Some bits of a frozen iceberg washed up on Cape Cod.

Anyone know of a cheap cross-country trucking service?

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[Lordquinton]

20. As a contrast 10% of California's water goes towards urban needs

half of urban is the actual citizens of the state. So all 38 million of us only use about 5% of the state's water, and then we're the ones told to get used to cutting back, and that we're not doing our part.

We could eliminate the cities and industry and Agriculture still wouldn't be able to continue as they're used to with the archaic water rights.

[SoapBox]

21. Absolutely!

And this crap ticks me off.

I've heard several "spokes persons" on the radio in Los Angeles yapping about all us little people need to cut back on OUR use but...we know there are thse monstrous users and they just keep on using.

Grrrrrr!

[Lordquinton]

22. it's amazing that LA is built in the middle of a desert

Would shrivel to a couple thousand people without the state water project, and they still only account for a tiny fraction of state water use. The twin tunnles are billed as bringing water to LA but ther really are just siphoning more water for the ag land down in the deserts there.