One of the things many Northeastern farmers take for granted is the availability of water: Precipitation, and when it doesn’t rain, wells to provide irrigation water. What we Northeasterners often call a “drought” is simply a season withough enough rain for normal crop yields. Most of us have never experienced a real drought.
Contrast this with what California farmers are going through. Irrigation water has been completely shut off for many Central Valley farmers, and mature walnut orchards are being cut down because it’s better to remove them than to let them die of thirst, thus becoming a vector for insects and disease. It must break those farmers’ hearts to take chain saws to what fwith sufficient irrigation water would be highly productive.
It looks almost certain that we’ll be getting a significantly higher percentage of our fruits, vegetables and nuts from foreign countries, many of which don’t have the environmental controls that we do. If you think there are enough inspectors, to adequately monitor even the current imports, think again. And the state of environmental and safety monitoring at the point of export? Please.
The reason for much of the California water problem (in addition to a several-year drought) is a tiny minnow that was getting sucked into irrigation intakes. A court said that the minnow is more important than Central Valley farming, and this water, instead of being used for food production, is running into the ocean. So far this decision has held even in the face of massive increases in farm worker unemployment: In one area, up to 40% unemployment.
Will the courts reverse its decision? Don’t hold your breath. Apparently minnows are more important than agriculture.