Maybe stop growing rice in a desert? Let gasp other parts of the country or double gasp world sell food to Americans?
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Then we let them suffer. What's the problem here?
California has about one year of water left
171–180 of 405 posts
Re: California has about one year of water left
#172Earlier quoted context omitted.
Until new farms capitalize on the opportunity to capture the market in places where there's an abundance of water.
Get real. Where is there that has the same amount of arable land and infrastructure and semi-skilled labor to just ramp up to where California is now?
The Eastern US is awash in water and has a ton of underutilized, fallow land that is already cleared. The workers can migrate as they already do. We can rebuild our greenhouse industry to get winter vegetables.
Re: California has about one year of water left
#173I just moved to Austin, TX 1.5 years ago. We've got our own severe drought here, and I wonder what's going to happen in the long term. Was it a mistake to move here? At least in TX, there are a couple of ways in which it's clear we're doing it to ourselves. First, we can't keep the reservoirs full because a significant amount of water flow is earmarked for rice farmers down at the mouth of the river. That's right: ri…
The droughts in Austin, and Texas, are far longer running than 1.5 years. Welcome to Austin, water shouldn't be a reason you think it is a mistake to live here.
There is a City of Austin Drought Contingency Plan: http://www.austintexas.gov/sites/default/files/files/Water/C...
Not Austin, but you can read an article on central Texas rainfall patterns done in Mason county on a ranch from 1950-2012 http://doublehelixranch.com/FlyGapRainTrends.html
Read about the "Record Drought" when the rain stopped in 1947 http://www.statesman.com/news/news/local/current-drought-pal...
I hear the elder in south Texas talk about how everything was green and they had various fruit trees when they were younger, all that is down there now is dust and mesquite.
Edit: The Lower Colorado River Authority has a Drought Update as of March 2015 http://www.lcra.org/water/water-supply/drought-update/Docume...
Re: California has about one year of water left
#174Agriculture uses the vast majority of water but most farmers pay very little, sometimes nothing, and sometimes they 'own' water rights which can be very valuable and often worth more than any of the land they farm upon. Farmers have been overdrawing from rivers and groundwater for decades and the US government has been very slow to respond. Promises of 'smart meters' or 'water markets' are often delayed with time tab…
I also want to add one more thing, 'farmers' as a category is not your salt of the earth, homespun family anymore. Most crops being grown are actually produced by large multinational conglomerates, the fact that people picture the downtrodden poor of the dust bowl whenever someone uses the word farmer is a triumph of marketing.
Re: California has about one year of water left
#175I wish there was some way to change prices to alter demand. Maybe a "task force of thought leaders" can crack open an Econ 101 textbook and look at the supply and demand curve on the first page. Sorry for the sarcasm, I'm just disappointed in the "reach for regulation first" approach to dealing with shortages.
"Some way to change prices" is regulation.
Re: California has about one year of water left
#176Disclaimer: I have no clue if what I'm proposing is realistic or not, but: Perhaps the federal government should step in and gradually step down the level of subsidies given to farmers in California and gradually increase subsidies given to NEW farmers in other, more water rich parts of the country. This would have the effect of moving farms to more sustainable locations in the country. Sure, the types of crops produ…
If the rest of the country could grow the same crops as "America's Salad Bowl" we would. California is ideal for those crops and without the large population would be fine. It is probably past time to actually push desalination plants or convince a lot of people to move somewhere else.
Many of the water-greedy crops being grown in California with their water subsidies are hardly important for the country. Almonds are not a staple crop; they are not necessary for our society and should not be valued highly enough to justify the Californian water used to grow them.
If it is a matter of farmers needing almonds to remain profitable enough to grow more important foods, then we would be better served by giving them free money, rather than cheap water for almonds.
Re: California has about one year of water left
#177A historical view: http://www.city-journal.org/2015/25_1_california-drought.htm...
The definitive history of water development in California is this book: http://www.amazon.com/Cadillac-Desert-American-Disappearing-... It's almost thirty years old now, but the history is just as relevant, and the warnings issued similarly prescient.
That's also available as a video documentary. Stunning history, the looming drought was inevitable.
TL;DR/DW - the only reason CA has a vibrant agricultural component is because enormous amounts of water are being taken from other states and used very inefficiently. There's a hard limit on what can be redirected, and increasing demand around those sources to keep what's being taken.
Sometimes a supply-and-demand curve has a brick wall: when demand outstrips supply, cost goes from dirt-cheap to incredibly expensive fast. This is often derided as "price gouging", but is a natural consequence of basic needs being supplied cheaply vs insufficiently. CA artificially increasing its water supply faces exactly that: natural growth of demand will slam into lack of sufficient supply, and those with the funds to purchase from the supply at near-any price will suddenly destroy the market for those enjoying necessities at barely-affordable prices.
Re: California has about one year of water left
#178So it looks like there is suddenly water everywhere in the solar system...except for California.
Solution: Crash an icy comet into California. Bonus points for aiming it at the Bay Area to clear the way for new development.
Great idea, this will both fix the water problem and disrupt the startup industry!
Re: California has about one year of water left
#179Earlier quoted context omitted.
Until new farms capitalize on the opportunity to capture the market in places where there's an abundance of water.
Only on HackerNews are people silly enough to think you have the scalability of virtual infrastructure in the physical world. Farms measure lead times in years . EDIT: I help my uncle manage a farm in Florida. The startup times are seriously ridiculous.
And is this drought not also taking years? It think it's reasonable to expect the farm markets to capitalistically take advantage of California's decline, even if it does take years.
Re: California has about one year of water left
#180Regarding California agriculture, and specifically growing the produce and vegetable crops that California supplies the rest of the country. An excellent model for urban agriculture, Growing Power of Milwaukee and Chicago, provides such vegetables grown in city greenhouses (lettuce, tomatoes, greens, etc.). They do it year-round in Chicago. Some of the heat comes from compost, worm bins, fish tanks. There are several offshoot businesses (e.g. Eco City Farm here in DC) replicating their model. Growing Power offers training several times a year. So hopefully other places - urban brownfields - will take up some of the agriculture production from California in view of the water problem.