Tuesday, February 25, 2014

California Agriculture

From Mother Jones:

California, supplier of nearly half of all US fruits, veggies, and nuts, is on track to experience the driest year in the past half millennium. Farms use about 80 percent of the state's "developed water," or water that's moved from its natural source to other areas via pipes and aqueducts.
As the maps above show, much of California's agriculture is concentrated in the parts of the state that the drought has hit the hardest. For example: Monterey County, which is currently enduring an "exceptional drought," according to the US Drought Monitor, grew nearly half of America's lettuce and broccoli in 2012.
That is amazing.  92% of all U.S. strawberries?  I am assuming that is 92% of U.S. production, and not 92% of U.S. consumption.  I know a lot of vegetables and strawberries are imported from Mexico.  But even as a percentage of production, that is unbelievable.  The link also has an interesting chart of how much water it takes to produce a head of broccoli, an almond and other produce.

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