Just some food for thought!

[kadee78]

And yes, the pun was intended!

Asia’s love of nuts is draining California dry.

Amid one of the worst droughts in the state’s history, farmers are scrambling to find enough water to irrigate lucrative almond trees they planted after abandoning other, less thirsty crops. 

Why’s there such a market for California nuts? As incomes in countries such as China, South Korea, and India have risen, so has demand for nuts that formerly were out of reach for many Asians. Added to the mix are Wall Street firms who, smelling a quick buck, are paying top dollar for vegetable farms and converting them to orchards.

"It is completely changing the face of agriculture that America has known," said Anuradha Mittal, the executive director of the Oakland Institute, a California based environmental think tank. A recent report from the institute illustrates how investment bankers are quickly becoming the face of modern farming — one driven by the potential for big returns growing high-value food for China.

[kadee78]

Since to board won't let me add anything without another quote box...I'll just do another post here.

If you guys/gals have any investments in the firms that have bought these farms in Ca. or are converting lands they have bought into Almond orchards....you might want to take a look at the entire situation.

It also won't let me put the link up there without a box....

www.nbcnews.com/business/markets/thats-nuts-almond-boom-strains-california-water-supply-n130586

[ModE98]

If California continues it's prlonged draught, perhaps they can tap the ocean and desalinize the water and pipe it in to the orchards in some way.  The Colorado river is not going to provide the amount of water they need. 

[Deleted]

Funny thing is that California has a few DESAL Plants. They Spent huge sums building them; then decided that they were far to expensive to run; so they just maintain them; in case they have to use them.

Saw a show on Discovery Channel awhile back where they were talking about this. Stuck in my head as DESAL is a fairly environmentally friendly way to not only get drinking water but also Salt (as a by product); which is why they built these things...

But even so; California (leader in environmental regulations) decided after spending millions to build the DESAL plants decided that they while environmentally friendly were too expensive to operate..

Go figure. I guess that even though Californians are willing to endure the highest taxes in the nation, the highest insurance, the highest cost to own & operate a motor vehicle, major mudslides, major earthquakes & the highest property prices in the nation: they have decided that an extra $0.78 a gallon on their water bill is too much to handle.. (even though LOL Californian's also are the largest consumers in the nation of Bottled Water @ $3 or $4 a bottle; of which only 72% of the resultant plastic waste is recycled.)  

[kadee78]

DI, I think they also have some of the highest per watt power usage bills too!

And you left out all the fires.

At this point, due to the cost of the DESAL process and then adding the cost of pipelines to carry it to locations needed...I don't see that happening for crops.  Maybe for drinking water, but not for many other things!

My DH did some work for a pecan company a couple of years ago.  While he was there working in their warehouse, a Chinese man came in, looked over the pecans & bought the whole warehouse full!  And that is one of the major reasons that we are paying such a high price for them at the grocery store!

[Deleted]

At this point, due to the cost of the DESAL process and then adding the cost of pipelines to carry it to locations needed...I don't see that happening for crops. Maybe for drinking water, but not for many other things!

Yes the cost would be of issue most likely for irrigation; but for drinking water while the cost would be higher, it wouldn't necessarily be cost prohibitive.

And there is the "rub"..

DESAL for drinking water would lessen the burden & demand on the water drawn from the Colorado river thus freeing up a larger amount of water for irrigation, which they need at a cost effective price, which is another thing they need.

So DESAL could be a big part of the solution to the irrigation issue for agriculture; which is very large business in California.