Yes, that’s right. It’s a dust bowl. Sure, it resembles a verdant field backed by an orchard in bloom, but according to the California Farm Water Coalition, it’s a dust bowl. I took this photograph last month on I-5, heading back to Los Angeles from San Francisco. The whole trip via highways 101-152-5 was a Springtime Wonderland. Each of these signs was backed by acres of green. All of the fruit trees were in bloom, except for the orange trees, they’re already producing fruit. There were free-range, grass-fed sheep and cattle grazing all over the place. The California Farm Water Coalition posted these signs to raise awareness of the fact that California State Congress had cut them off. Having been in a drought for the past few years, and accustomed to heavily subsidized water, California farms had been wasting too much of what little water the Sacramento Delta had to spare.
It reached a critical point last year and Congress had to do something to balance the needs of all water users (especially the ones who pay a lot more for the stuff- the residents of Southern California, ie- me!). So they figured the best way to incentivize farmers to conserve water was with a shock to the system. Sometimes, a revolution is what it takes. The CA farm water coalition would like us to believe that the farmers most affected by this are family farmers, conveniently ignoring the fact that the majority of the produce in this state comes from a few large corporate farms that mostly employ migrant workers.
Sustainable Farming is California’s Only Hope for Future
Yes, we’ve finally had a good bit of rain. But clearly, it’s not enough. The waterline on San Luis Reservoir pictured above, from highway 152, shows we still have a long way to go. Farming in this state is completely unsustainable, and needs a drastic overhaul to work with realistic weather conditions. Perhaps instead of bribing Congress for more subsidies, the corporate farms that dominate our landscape should take a lesson from farmers in developing countries. Those farmers have had to learn how to deal with drought/monsoon cycles without having water piped to them. Usually that means choosing to grow crops that require less water. So instead of growing acres and acres of cotton to ship directly to China for processing, or raising thousands of heads of cattle in abhorrent conditions that poison the groundwater, perhaps we could grow food crops that do well in low-water environments, like Agave cactus. This article from SF Gate goes into more detail about potential solutions. Anyway, pile into the Prius and check it out this weekend before the blooming season ends!
I just drove through that same stretch of road recently and saw all of those inane signs. I remember thinking, I guess that: “Unsustainable Farming Practices and a Lack of Government Regulation Created Dust Bowl” doesn’t sound as catchy. That false propaganda campaign along the interstate is funded by corporate agribusiness dressed up in phony family farmer drag-sickening.
It seems insane to me that crops which use a massive amount of water, like rice, are being farmed in California. We should be growing more drought tolerant plants, such as agave, hemp and amaranth.
Is a short, sharp, shock going to do it ? – I don’t think so. Putting the price of water up might – but I guess that this will just end-up on the customer – which is sure to reduce the “market potential”?.
Surely no need to go all the way from Rice to Cactus – Paddy to Desert. Whatever you grow it’s going to need a bit of water , but rice ! Only crazy people grow Rice where there is a water-shortage. Same with cotton. The bottom line rules ? There is one and one only.
“If it pays, do it”.
It worked for Moscow while the Arral Sea lasted. – but the main point that we are missing is that “It wasn’t “Capitalist” (Mr. Big told me so himself)!” Everything is just funky doory so long as it ain’t “Capitalism” – no matter what kind of F” P?-up it is!! The world may end while these muppets sort-out the meanings of words. It’s not “important”