Drought In California Vs. Almond

In the article,”The Wrong Way to Think about California Water,” by Michael Hiltzik, Hiltzik explains how people think the scarce water in California is being used, and explains how the water is actually being used. He begins by saying bottled water is something the press is complaining about, but not much water is being bottled compared to the amount used for agriculture. He then explains how people think that we use too much water on nuts specifically almonds. Hiltzik says that although a lot of water is used for agriculture, nuts like almonds are actually water efficient compared to other crops. The author’s final points are that we should be complaining about the water used on lawns and that we need to create

Meanwhile, if water to farming is cut, buyers go elsewhere to get their produce. Of course other places grow the same produce and those other places have the space to expand and they get plenty of water while being taxed less. California farms may never get those buyers back after the drought ends. Almonds are California’s fifth most profitable export. Cut their water and you cut billions from the government budgets. Which results in less funding of California programs. Nobody starves from lack of wine, artichokes, walnuts, kiwis, plums, celery, garlic, cauliflower, spinach, or carrots. We will live. Besides, the video assumes that all those can’t be grown elsewhere. They already are growing elsewhere. The California drought does not affect the country negatively. It affects California negatively, If California’s farming is cut, buyers flock to other farms across the country. These other farms expand, hire new workers, buy new machinery, etc. Nobody starves, everyone outside of California benefits. But inside of California, you lose thousands of jobs in the farming, machinery, distribution channels to other states. Not to mention the higher costs of

For the sole purpose of the economical benefits, Hu’s Kitchen should continue to sell almond milk because it provides numerous jobs in the United States. In fact, over one hundred thousand jobs in California, are created from the almond industry (Fujii, 2014). Every year, the state’s almond industry supplies eleven billion dollars to California’s gross domestic product (Kasler, n.d.). In addition to the gross domestic product, the almond industry generates twenty one billion dollars in economic revenue (Sauer, 2014). Due to the fact that California produces eighty percent of the world’s almonds, this industry requires farmers to keep up with the demand from the consumers. Thus, over eight hundred thousand acres of farmland are used to produce the almonds, as seventy percent of the almonds are exported overseas (Pierson,

No Californian is impervious to the California drought. The Bay Area, Sierra Mountains, and the Central Valley have all reported record drought conditions. Even with this obvious evidence that has been brought forth for about four years now, farmers have been continuously taking local citizen’s water for their own orchards. The California legislature needs to come to the decision that caps need to be put on large water users so the preexisting residents may receive water.

To begin with, CA has the 6th largest economy in the world and the largest economy in the US. Due to the drought, the california economy has gone down which in turn also affects the United States economy as well. According to CNN, this constant drought will affect everyone as California is an agricultural state and reputed as breadbasket to the whole world. It includes a large portion of agricultural output which is exported. As the agricultural industry needs reliable water supply from irrigation and rain, constant drought in the state is bound to affect the world. In addition, according to the USDA, they predict that there will be a 6% increase in fruit price and a 3% rise in vegetable prices due to the drought. Clearly, this drought is affecting us more than ever and it will continue to get worst. Therefore, we should fund this resolution.

California’s continuous drought not only affects California, but essentially impacts the entire food system. Could you imagine an entire state unable to contribute to the growing demands of a thriving economy? As California enters its fifth year of drought the consequences of an ever depleting natural resource, water, continues to negatively impact landscape plants, agricultural production, wildlife, and the economy. The lack of water in California has the potential to have a devastating effect on an ever thriving economy.

The almond industry is responsible for thousands of jobs and is a very big money maker for the economy. If there aren’t as many almonds produced, the income from these nuts will drastically drop. Another factor is the nut itself changing. "Water is a huge challenge," said Richard Waycott, chief executive of the state almond board. The stingy water supplies resulted in smaller almonds this year. (Pierson). People love almonds for their size and health benefits. “Almonds are an excellent source of Vitamin E, B Vitamins, Magnesium, Fiber, Calcium, Potassium, Monounsaturated Fat, and Protein” (Almond Growth Explained). This is a reason why the export of almonds overseas to other countries is a big deal. The health benefits are key to the success of the almond. The expectations of farmers are high to produce enough almonds to fulfill the growing demands. Even if the amount was the same, the size of almonds would make a big difference in consumers buying them. “Still, with almond prices nearly doubling in the last five years to $2.58 a pound, it's little wonder that growers have been abandoning crops such as cotton and furiously planting almond trees.”

“Economists at the University of California, Davis said that agriculture, once a $44 billion annual business in California, will suffer a financial hit of $2.2 billion due to revenue losses and higher water costs” (Associated Press, 2014). Many farmers are going out of business because the production costs have increased with rising inflation, while revenue has decreased. Others have reduced their farmland plantations which decreases the crop production. Some of the affected crops include oranges, pistachios and rice. One example of how this affects the nation is the California almonds. “California [is] the source of eighty percent of the world’s almonds” (Bloomberg, 2014). This year farmers had to come up with new tactics to rescue the nut from drought “by diverting the water used for vegetables and drilling more water wells to keep the trees hydrated” (Bloomberg, 2014). Farmers are not the only group of workers affected by the drought.

The drought has a strong impact on the Californian economy as well, a whopping 2.74 billion dollars down that drain and twenty thousand jobs lost. Agriculture the major business hit by the drought. Agriculture uses eighty percent of California’s water, although it has a high water usage California agriculture is very important for the national economy (Ross). Half a million acers of farmland has been dried up due to the drought which means less money in agriculture. The almond industry uses ten percent of California’s water, taking one gallon of water to grow just one almond (Holthaus). Many people think that almonds are wasting water since it takes so much resources to cultivate. On the other hand California produces more than eighty percent

California is going on a four-year drought, having many devastating implications that are being felt by everyone in the state. The population hit the hardest has been the farmers of California. California, being economically driven by its agricultural production, is losing hundreds of thousands of jobs every year due to the lack of water. Farmers’ use 80% of water the state produces, directly influencing their production (Mieszkowski, 2014). The country heavily relies on California for much of its produce such as tomatoes, nuts, avocados, strawberries, broccoli, grapes and various others (Cooley et al. 2015). In 2014, harvested acreage was 6.9 million acres, the lowest it has been for the past 15 years. Farmers are now being forced to use significantly less land then before, but also ditch old irrigation techniques and implement new techniques to better conserve water; maximizing production as much as possible in order to combat the drought.

“California’s water future is increasingly uncertain,” says Heather Cooley, in her article California Needs Better Water Management and Pricing Policies (Source A). Agriculture uses 80 percent of California’s constrained water supply and proves to be the primary source of California’s drought. There has been no permanent and largely successful conservation effort to save water. However, with a reformed water management and conservation system, California’s largest industry, agriculture, can thrive while saving water at the same time.

There is a town out of water because of the farmers using too much water for their crops.There is no doubt that California is a big farming country evenly as important since California is in a big drought, without doubt farmers use a lot of water.If they use all the water the city won't have water.Private wells have gone dry before in California, Again not on a scale such as that in East Porterville this summer.-

In a discussion on the California drought, one controversial issue has been that if the people in California should be worried about relocating somewhere else. One the one hand, the drought not only affects the people, but animals, and crops too. On the other hand, some hope that the government will intervene and try to do something to prevent this disaster from escalating so people don’t have to move out of the area. The government should intervene and help find a solution to the problem so people, animals, and agricultural can continue to survive.

Visualize that citizens have to go 5 months without showering, living in filth, not being able to flush their toilet. Horrible right? Well sorrowfully, for numerous cresidents in California, that is the life they live. There is currently a 3-year drought in California. Innumerable citizens are compelled to drive miles and miles away in order to acquire water and bathe, while for farmers, they have been allowed to use aquifers frequently to grow their crops. We do not have enough water for both the farmers and citizens to be used oftenly, which has precipitated an outage between the two. Therefore, the California government is debating on whether to supervise the usage of aquifers. As a result, I support California enforcing

California is experiencing its worst drought in history. Throughout the state you can see lakes, rivers and streams drying up and leaving farmers and communities without water. Although it seems that science and global weather patterns caused this severe drought, however irresponsible usage of water paired with state laws on water rights and population growth have all played a role in prolonging this drought that is going into its eighth year. California’s central valley is the world leader in Agriculture, however the valley is also the perfect area for a drought to occur due to climate change. California is in a state of emergency, with the help of reduced water usage along with the state and federal government need to aid in lessening