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posted by martyb on Sunday June 14 2015, @08:42PM   Printer-friendly
from the …and-hope-for-rain dept.

The State of California took an unprecedented move today [June 14] by uniformly restricting water supplies across the entire state. Farms will be most affected, although food prices aren't anticipated to rise in any hurry: imports from out of state continue apace. It's notable that this is a problem Silicon Valley hasn't been helping to solve.

Will this move force some much-needed modernization upon the infrastructure supporting the state's 38 million residents? Or will things continue to be corn, corn, corn for the time being?


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  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 14 2015, @08:47PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 14 2015, @08:47PM (#196236)

    might be time to stop growing crops in the fucking desert.

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  • (Score: 2) by Tork on Sunday June 14 2015, @09:08PM

    by Tork (3914) Subscriber Badge on Sunday June 14 2015, @09:08PM (#196241)
    Yeah! Instead they should be growing them where things like frost randomly happen every year. That'd be way better than dealing with the occasional drought.
    --
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    • (Score: 0, Disagree) by dusty monkey on Sunday June 14 2015, @09:25PM

      by dusty monkey (5492) on Sunday June 14 2015, @09:25PM (#196244)

      Yes those damn surprise forests really are a problem.

      --
      - when you vote for the lesser of two evils, you are still voting for evil - stop supporting evil -
      • (Score: 2) by Tork on Sunday June 14 2015, @09:28PM

        by Tork (3914) Subscriber Badge on Sunday June 14 2015, @09:28PM (#196245)
        I don't understand your comment.
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        • (Score: 4, Informative) by Kilo110 on Monday June 15 2015, @12:35AM

          by Kilo110 (2853) Subscriber Badge on Monday June 15 2015, @12:35AM (#196299)

          I think he read "frost" as "forests"

    • (Score: 3, Informative) by hemocyanin on Sunday June 14 2015, @09:28PM

      by hemocyanin (186) on Sunday June 14 2015, @09:28PM (#196246) Journal

      Seriously? Corn grows in great in places with very cold weather. Look at this map: http://farmdocdaily.illinois.edu/2012/04/little-change-in-where-corn-is.html [illinois.edu]
      Most corn is grown in some of the regions with the coldest nastiest winters America has to offer. And then there is Canada, which is even colder: http://www.thompsonslimited.com/2015/04/27/corn-is-canadas-3rd-most-valuable-crop/ [thompsonslimited.com]

      I kinda think corn could be produced elsewhere, especially considering that CA's contribution is so low it barely registers, and that corn is a very thirsty crop, it seems like a non-problem. Just stop growing corn in the fucking desert. Grow prickly pears or something better suited to the climate.

      • (Score: 2) by Tork on Sunday June 14 2015, @09:42PM

        by Tork (3914) Subscriber Badge on Sunday June 14 2015, @09:42PM (#196251)
        According to your article if they grew it elsewhere it would be seasonal.
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      • (Score: 3, Insightful) by VLM on Sunday June 14 2015, @09:53PM

        by VLM (445) Subscriber Badge on Sunday June 14 2015, @09:53PM (#196256)

        a very thirsty crop

        All crops are thirsty, and that brings up the interesting point that produce export is exporting that volume of water permanently out of that ecosystem.

        So if I buy lettuce from CA, the embedded water has been permanently shifted from underground desert aquifers to the mississippi river, with some intermediate processing in my digestive system and kidneys and the sewage treatment plant.

        I remember an infographic along the lines of all the produce shipped out of CA is the same as a modest creek/river of water, on long term average.

        • (Score: 1) by khallow on Sunday June 14 2015, @10:09PM

          by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Sunday June 14 2015, @10:09PM (#196264) Journal

          and that brings up the interesting point that produce export is exporting that volume of water permanently out of that ecosystem

          Which is not all that interesting a point since far larger volumes of water move in and out of that ecosystem naturally.

          • (Score: 2) by hemocyanin on Sunday June 14 2015, @11:08PM

            by hemocyanin (186) on Sunday June 14 2015, @11:08PM (#196276) Journal

            Maybe it is interesting. There's a difference between water and usable water. The world is mostly covered with water but very little of that is good to drink or water crops. Of that water that moves in and out of CA (or anywhere for that matter), how much is actually available for use? I don't know the answers but if simple access to any old water in any form was satisfactory, there wouldn't be a water crisis in anywhere.

        • (Score: 4, Interesting) by Runaway1956 on Monday June 15 2015, @03:55AM

          by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Monday June 15 2015, @03:55AM (#196353) Journal

          No, not all crops are equally demanding. Corn is probably the one food crop that depletes the soil more than any other. The only thing I'm aware of that depletes the soil worse than corn, is cotton.

          But, the focus here is on thirst. Let me try to find something - http://waterinfotech.com/watermgmt/wateragri/Water%20requirement%20of%20Crops.pdf [waterinfotech.com] That PDF shows that sunflowers require ~2x as much water as beans, and citrus crops require almost three times as much as beans. Lettuce surprises me, it requires only about half the water that beans require. This page confirms the information in the PDF - http://www.prep-blog.com/2013/07/30/survival-gardening-the-water-needs-of-food-crops/ [prep-blog.com]

          It is my belief that almost all fruits and nuts from trees use more water than fruits and vegetables commonly grown in gardens.

          Bushes and vines can be surprising - for instance, early maturing grapes use far less water than I expected, and some varieties of blueberries get by in near drought conditions - but in generaly, bushes and vines require a lot of water.

          Common grasses are well known to be more and less drought tolerant. Few winter grasses can tolerate drought at all - when the summer heats up and dries up, they go dormant or die. Sudan, orchard, and bahia grasses tend to do well during a drought though.

          So, the idea that California farmers can choose more wisely what crops to grow has a lot of merit. In fact, the idea that California never was especially suitable for farming has it's own merit. Corn might be seasonal, if it can't be grown in the desert? Virtually all of humanity has always known that crops are seasonal. Get used to the idea.

          • (Score: 2) by Joe Desertrat on Tuesday June 16 2015, @02:50AM

            by Joe Desertrat (2454) on Tuesday June 16 2015, @02:50AM (#196717)

            So, the idea that California farmers can choose more wisely what crops to grow has a lot of merit. In fact, the idea that California never was especially suitable for farming has it's own merit.

            The trouble with large scale farming in much of California is it ignores external costs. The water has to come, for the most part, from somewhere else. There simply is not enough rainfall in most of the farming regions. So water has to come from another source, which means it has to be diverted from another destination, causing issues with ecosystems and industries down the line. It also requires cheap immigrant labor and the attendant problems from that. Lower prices of produce due to centralization of production from California (and elsewhere) has also helped speed the decline of family farms and locally produced produce throughout much of the US, particularly in the northeast, something that may come back to bite us in the ass in years to come. No matter how much money a developer has made, strip malls and condos are not a better use of productive lands than farms.

            • (Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday June 16 2015, @02:07PM

              by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday June 16 2015, @02:07PM (#196853) Journal

              Speaking of things coming back to bite us in the ass - "monoculture". Have you read about the bananas?

              http://qz.com/164029/tropical-race-4-global-banana-industry-is-killing-the-worlds-favorite-fruit/ [qz.com]

              Funny - I had three different headlines come through my feed last week - maybe more - but today when I look for it, all I find is this from Chiquita:

              http://www.freshplaza.com/article/116343/Chiquita-says-banana-blight-concerns-are-hyped-up [freshplaza.com]

              At any rate - cultivars have disappeared almost completely, for potatoes, tomatoes, berries, bananas, and anything else you care to mention. Instead of hundreds of potatoes varieties in the early 1900's, today we only have a few dozen at most. The rest are pretty much gone. Some old timer may still grow one or two cultivars in his own garden, but hundreds of others are just gone.

              Like the bananas, having a monoculture in any crop means that a single disease can destroy the world's harvest. One single blight, spread widely enough, and no bananas, or potatoes, or whatever. Just gone!

      • (Score: 3, Informative) by captain normal on Monday June 15 2015, @06:19AM

        by captain normal (2205) on Monday June 15 2015, @06:19AM (#196375)

        Actually, though there is a fair amount of corn grown in California, Most is grown in the plains states. There is a lot you would miss and/or pay dearly for if California could not produce.
        California grows over 200 different crops, some grown nowhere else in the nation. Crops include grapes, almonds, strawberries, oranges and walnuts.

        California produces almost all of the country's almonds, apricots, dates, figs, kiwi fruit, nectarines, olives, pistachios, prunes, and walnuts. It leads in the production of avocados, grapes, lemons, melons, peaches, plums, and strawberries. Only Florida produces more oranges.

        The most important vegetable crops grown in the state are lettuce and tomatoes. Again, California leads the way. Broccoli and carrots rank second followed by asparagus, cauliflower, celery, garlic, mushrooms, onions, and peppers. Only Texas grows more cotton than California.

        Hay, rice, corn, sugar beets, and wheat are also grown in large quantities. (http://www.netstate.com/economy/ca_economy.htm)

        There is a list of agricultural produce that California leads the nation in reprinted here: http://www.motherjones.com/files/2agovstat10_web-1.pdf [motherjones.com]

        For a brief look at what you'd eat without California: http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/explainer/2013/07/california_grows_all_of_our_fruits_and_vegetables_what_would_we_eat_without.html [slate.com]

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  • (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 14 2015, @09:46PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 14 2015, @09:46PM (#196253)
    Every location has its ups and downs. California's is that it has a moderate climate and occasional drought. The mid-west has plenty of water but harsh winters and summers. Name a location and you'll find a big disadvantage. Your suggestion is not very helpful.
    • (Score: 3, Funny) by kaszz on Sunday June 14 2015, @11:20PM

      by kaszz (4211) on Sunday June 14 2015, @11:20PM (#196280) Journal

      I have indications that the mid-west has some harsh bible thumpers too.. :P
      Or is that only seasonal when the temperature gets too high?

  • (Score: 2) by darkfeline on Sunday June 14 2015, @09:53PM

    by darkfeline (1030) on Sunday June 14 2015, @09:53PM (#196257) Homepage

    The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists
    in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the
    unreasonable man.

    -- George Bernard Shaw

    But seriously, you're right. Importing water to grow crops is not sustainable.

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    • (Score: 2, Touché) by khallow on Sunday June 14 2015, @10:16PM

      by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Sunday June 14 2015, @10:16PM (#196266) Journal

      Importing water to grow crops is not sustainable.

      Unless, of course, you just don't stop importing water. Then it's quite sustainable.