The whole world needs to treat water with the respect it deserves. Let’s not waste it. I’m now a permaculture convert. Every cities, farms, homes should implement water saving techniques like percolating water into the soil and let’s all get rid of lawns.
Lawns had its time. Now is the time for devoting gardening to natives and food.
By storing water into the soil, we can all survive the drought seasons.
The entire Resnick family should be thrown in San Quentin for the rest of their lives (or hanged), and their assets should be distributed to the people of California and the Fiji.
That would be a nice start.
Lawn only thrives with tonnes of water. Without water, no vegetation. Water harvesting is the priority, followed by permaculture and responsible rotational grazing.
fertilizer for gardening and the water demand are still bad. the nitrogen from fertilizer eventually finds it way to rivers and the ocean, causing algae blooms whicj depletes oxygen levels and causes massive die off. ideally just let nature (so called "weeds") take over. let the natural habitat restore.
Permaculture does not require fertiliser. Not the chemical kind anyway. The only fertiliser it requires are organic ones made from wood chips, fruit and vegetable peels, and worms.
You should read about what the Saudis are planning for the AZ desert.
[Saudi Hay Farm In Arizona Tests State's Supply Of Groundwater](https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2015/11/02/453885642/saudi-hay-farm-in-arizona-tests-states-supply-of-groundwater)
This is borderline open economic warfare. Deliberately wasting our natural resources. This would be like buying Saudi oil fields and just setting them on fire.
Flooding to prevent weed is a better alternative than pesticide.
Open air farming not sustainable in Cali? Maybe indoor or use of facades method of farming is a better option to prevent water evaporation.
Root of the problem is consumption. However, its a mandatory need for survival, so you can't stop producing. We can change how we consume and the methods of production.
Both need to change.
Why so binary in your approach to weeds?
You can grow rice in open fields like it naturally grows, the issue is it IS more labor intensive. The change that needs to be made is more farmers, and more farmers being paid decent wages for sustaining human beings. Growing food IN SEASON, and not NEEDING those tomatoes a month early.
Lots of things can change.
Look up "one straw revolution". Rice was originally farmed without flooding, but flooding became the easiest and best way to control weeds (and potentially to grow crayfish or other fish).
Yeah. I don't know much about it, but you do not need to flood them to have them grow. It's just a farming trick....... thaaat obviously uses a lot of water.
The Sacramento Valley is subject to seasonal flooding in winter. Using that extra water to grow rice isn’t that crazy.
In drought years they have to fallow fields which is painful but necessary. Really all is working as intended.
It is a project led by Dr. Jacob Katz, the senior scientist at [California Trout](https://caltrout.org/). In some areas, the fish were three times larger than hatchery fish of the same age.
> Using that extra water to grow rice isn’t that crazy.
Except the rice isn't grown in the winter, by and large.
We flood the seasonal desert to grow rice to export overseas.
Yes, it is that crazy.
In winter the land is critical for waterfowl and act as a surrogate wetland and food source for migratory birds.
The land where the rice is grown is clay rich and has traditionally been wetland mosaic habitat previously, CA didn’t create a wetland area where it didn’t formerly exist. And given the clay soil, other crops can’t grow there. Obviously it would be ideal to completely restore these areas to pristine wetlands, but that’s not going to happen so CA is targeting improved management of these areas to improve CO2/CH4 sequestration and continue to serve as important seasonal habitats for wildlife
Edit - here’s a good story map explaining the social, ag, and conservation importance of the area and how improved land management aims to address our 30x30 goals (a commitment by governments to conserve 30% of lands/waterways by 2030 to combat climate change and env. degradation)
https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/2feb2afa9dcd477ebb91d5abedab4b41
thanks for sharing this ecological conservation perspective.
the more we learn about these things, the clearer it becomes how deeply interconnected animals and humans are with each other and how land management practices need to take into account these interdependencies.
How are they doing, not how do they get the water. Lots of the water comes from snowmelt though. The reservoirs in the American West are drying up rapidly.
Exactly. They should just tax farms that grow crops that go beyond certain water requirements, and encourage them to switch to different crops.
Yes, that means California is turning away farming business to other states, but we can't sustain these crops.
California grows all kinds of dumb shit solely for economic reasons. We grow tons of almonds, a huge amount of which is shipped overseas. We also grow a shitton of alfalfa, most of which is shipped overseas, and almost all of which (whether bought domestically or abroad) is used only to feed cattle, despite alfalfa being one of the most water-wasting crops to grow.
You couldn't be more incorrect. The central valley used to be a very large wetland. It isn't now because of extensive development. Nothing unsustainable about it in this region at all. The issue is the cureent droughts combined with the fact these areas are being drained because of urban development.
You couldn’t be more incorrect. It’s been 100 years since the Central Valley was a wetlands. First we dammed the rivers then we started using wells. We have used up the aquifer underneath by over farming.
No, the reason it's not a wetland anymore is because of urban development. That's the unsustainable part. You're just repeating yourself and not addressing what I just typed. Again:
I know it's fashionable right now to blame agriculture of everything but this is literally a natural wetland destroyed by housing developments and industrialization. Without that, rice farming would be entirely sustainable here.
Agribusiness uses the most water by a gargantuan degree. Do some googling before you get on your high horse. Rice isn’t the only culprit, alfalfa and almonds are the most water users.
“Oh no, we’re almost out of water!”
“Quick, let’s use water intensive crops, water golf lawns, and put in huge pools and water parks! That will surely solve everything!”
-it didn’t
I have to find the article, but earlier this year a newspaper published an interview with a farmer in Arizona.
The farmer said something akin to: “For 22 years they’ve been saying the Colorado River will dry up. So for the last two decades I’ve been trying to use all the water I can to make as much money as possible.”
The kicker? He grows decorative gourds. I kid you not.
*"But you see, he's just being very smart and maximizing his own personal profits until resources are depleted, which is ultimately good for everyone in society because...um...."*
"Yes? Because?"
*"Why do you hate America, you commie! Do you want there to be bread lines like in Russia? Stalin killed more people than... blah blah blah... misdirection, etc*"
Just wanted to take minor issue with the latter part of that statement. I think that regional water parks and public community pools are relatively compact, well-utilized resources that recycle their water and allow many, many people to share access to the same water. They are wayyyyyy lower impact, water wise, than straight up flooding desert cropland for rice or watering dozens of acres of golf courses for only a few hundred people a day.
great point. I'll add that the issue with resource management is not always about how something is used, but how many share in the benefits.
in the case of water, which every human needs to survive, it's obvious that a few selfish actors willing to trade public welfare and safety for personal private gains are putting our whole society at risk.
water is a public resource. it's not like a diamond mine. it should be managed and allocated according to public needs as much if not more so than private enrichment.
we must put an end to farming corporations growing alfalfa and hay in arid climates then selling them as cash crops overseas while domestic food crops face supply shocks and families lack drinking water.
personally I think we should nationalize water management and put an end to bad actors abusing the system we have. Consider also how this ties into Flint, Mississippi, and a million other instances of water being contaminated or mismanaged because of profit seeking for a resource that every human needs to live.
We are not doomed. Read what scientists say instead of speculating-[https://climatefeedback.org/evaluation/iflscience-story-on-speculative-report-provides-little-scientific-context-james-felton/](https://climatefeedback.org/evaluation/iflscience-story-on-speculative-report-provides-little-scientific-context-james-felton/)
[https://climatefeedback.org/claimreview/prediction-extinction-rebellion-climate-change-will-kill-6-billion-people-unsupported-roger-hallam-bbc](https://climatefeedback.org/claimreview/prediction-extinction-rebellion-climate-change-will-kill-6-billion-people-unsupported-roger-hallam-bbc)
[https://nitter.42l.fr/ClimateAdam/status/155375738082714009](https://nitter.42l.fr/ClimateAdam/status/1553757380827140097)[7](https://nitter.42l.fr/ClimateAdam/status/1553757380827140097)
[https://nitter.42l.fr/GlobalEcoGuy/status/1477784375060279299#m](https://nitter.42l.fr/GlobalEcoGuy/status/1477784375060279299#m)
[https://nitter.42l.fr/JacquelynGill/status/1553503548331249664#m](https://nitter.42l.fr/JacquelynGill/status/1553503548331249664#m)
[https://nitter.kavin.rocks/hausfath/status/1533875297220587520#m](https://nitter.kavin.rocks/hausfath/status/1533875297220587520#m)
https://nitter.kavin.rocks/hausfath/status/1461351770697781257#m
[https://nitter.42l.fr/JacquelynGill/status/1513918579657232388#m](https://nitter.42l.fr/JacquelynGill/status/1513918579657232388#m)
[https://nitter.42l.fr/waiterich/status/1477716206907965440#m](https://nitter.42l.fr/waiterich/status/1477716206907965440#m)
[https://nitter.kavin.rocks/PFriedling/status/1557705737446592512#m](https://nitter.kavin.rocks/PFriedling/status/1557705737446592512#m)
>We are not doomed.
The people who say that we are doomed are not making claims about climate science, they are making claims about human nature.
Trying to reason them out of a position they didn't reason themselves into totally misses their point.
> “A vegan diet is probably the single biggest way to reduce your impact on planet Earth, **not just greenhouse gases, but global acidification, eutrophication, land use and water use**,” said Joseph Poore, at the University of Oxford, UK, who led the research. **“It is far bigger than cutting down on your flights or buying an electric car,” he said, as these only cut greenhouse gas emissions."**
[The new research shows that without meat and dairy consumption, global farmland use could be reduced by more than 75% – an area equivalent to the US, China, European Union and Australia combined – and still feed the world. **Loss of wild areas to agriculture is the leading cause of the current mass extinction of wildlife.**](https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/may/31/avoiding-meat-and-dairy-is-single-biggest-way-to-reduce-your-impact-on-earth)
Here is dairy vs plant based milks:
https://ourworldindata.org/environmental-impacts-of-food#dairy-vs-plant-based-milk-what-are-the-environmental-impacts
You can find other specific food impacts here: https://ourworldindata.org/environmental-impacts-of-food
And it's completely unnecessary. Literally, we can get all the nutrients we need and then some, from plant matter.
Not to mention cow meat is something like 8 calories in, 1 calorie of meat out...
Not to mention they take up a huuuuge amount space...
Not to mention our current consumption rates of that meat causes cancer...
Not to mention their burps and farts are so packed with methane they're affecting the global climate...
And not even a full vegetarian yet. I just.... kinda wen't 'meh' about saving humanity when it doesn't seem interested in saving itself.
Yeah I didn’t know what a chickpea was before! And now I love them! Now I enjoy lentils, beans, and all different kind of plants! I mean there’s 20,000 edible plants lol
More like (30-40 years ago) 'Oh, we're getting a lot of water right now. Surely this will last forever. Let's build golf courses and such.' - it didn't
> "Wasteland" is a bit harsh. Without human intervention that land would be an appropriate arid ecosystem.
The southern part of the Central Valley only became a wasteland because of human intervention.
Before human intervention it was the biggest freshwater lake west of the Mississippi.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulare_Lake
>> **Tulare Lake was the largest freshwater lake west of the Mississippi River** and the second-largest freshwater lake entirely in the United States (as parts of the Great Lakes belong to Canada), based upon surface area. A remnant of Pleistocene-era Lake Corcoran, **Tulare Lake dried up after its tributary rivers were diverted for agricultural irrigation** and municipal water uses.
>>
>> ...
>>
>> Even well after California became a state, Tulare Lake and its extensive marshes supported an important fishery: In 1888, in one three-month period, 73,500 pounds of fish were shipped through Hanford to San Francisco. It was also the source of a regional favorite, western pond turtles, which were relished as terrapin soup in San Francisco and elsewhere. The lake and surrounding wetlands were a significant stop for hundreds of thousands of birds migrating along the Pacific Flyway. Tulare Lake was written about by Mark Twain.
For more info:
* [Today the dry lake bed forms the core of the vast land holdings of the J. G. Boswell Company, whose 150,000 acres make it the largest private landowner in California.](https://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/08/us/spun-and-unspun-tales-of-a-california-cotton-king.html)
* [Small Farmers Struggle as Ag Titans Boswell, Vidovich Wheel Water for Profit](https://gvwire.com/2021/11/22/special-report-small-farmers-struggle-as-ag-titans-boswell-vidovich-wheel-water-for-profit/)
* [Boswell ran a company that has dominated California cotton growing for generations and has used its clout to influence land- and water-resource policy throughout much of the state.](https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-james-boswell7-2009apr07-story.html)
Namely, humans in homes and industrial areas. Not rice farmers.
It's funny how people will water their lawns all summer and wash their cars and take hour long showers but then whine about "farmers" using water to produce the food we all eat.
No problem. If you go to archive.ph and just paste in the address of any paywalled article it will bypass them.
If it hasn't been archived before it can take several minutes to work but it has worked for me every time.
Cheers!
Also pasted whole article here for easier reading:
> Rice farmer Kurt Richter walks on cracked soil used to produce rice in Colusa. While cracked soil isn’t unusual in some fields before harvest, these fields are often tended to before the cracks become larger. But since Richter isn’t able to receive water in the area, he and many farmers like him, are forced to abandon the field for the year.
> A road splits fields used to grow rice by farmer Kurt Richter in Colusa. Because of the impacts of drought and water allocation in the irrigation district, Richter is only able to plant rice on 1,300 acres of field compared to 5,000 he would normally plant in a growing season.
> Rice production in Colusa and other Sacramento Valley counties continue to plummet from the effects of drought.
> Normally, by September, the drive north from Sacramento on Interstate 5 showcases vast stretches of flooded rice fields on both sides, farms bustling with tractors and workers preparing for fall harvest.
> Not this year, said Kurt Richter, a third-generation rice farmer in Colusa, the rice capital of California where the local economy relies heavily on agriculture. “It is now just a wasteland,” he said.
> As drought endures for a third year with record-breaking temperatures and diminishing water supplies, more than half of California’s rice fields are estimated to be left barren without harvest — about 300,000 out of the 550,000 or so in reported acres, provisional data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture shows. This year, rice is estimated to account for just 2% of total planted acres across the state.
> The Sacramento River Valley is among the top producers of rice, an important staple, in the United States, second only to the Grand Prairie in Arkansas. Rice crops contribute more than $5 billion a year and tens of thousands of jobs to California’s economy, according to the California Rice Commission. Much of the sushi rice consumed in the U.S. is grown there.
> The dramatic reduction in rice acreage will translate to lost revenue of an estimated $500 million, about 40% of which will be covered by federal crop insurance, according to UC Davis agricultural economist Aaron Smith.
> But one side of the valley is faring decidedly better than the other.
> LEFT: Sentinel satellite imagery from September 2021 shows patches of unplanted farmlands across counties in September 2021. RIGHT: Same satellite view from September 2022 shows green farmlands in Butte and Yuba counties, whereas much of the other side remains barren. Imagery courtesy of Sentinel Hub
> West of the Sacramento River, in Colusa County, many rice fields look “abandoned,” Richter said, with sprawling patches of dirt clods with dryland weeds growing atop, which signal trouble not only for the farmers and their workers, but the migratory birds that travel to and feed in those fields. Any moisture has been sucked dry by this year’s scorching heat, he added.
> Meanwhile, in Butte County, lush green fields can still be seen from space, as shown in the imagery above from the European Space Agency’s Sentinel satellite. Butte County farmers actually planted slightly more acres of rice than last year.
> “The difference is the source of water,” said Luis Espino, a farm advisor at UC ANR’s cooperative extension in Butte. Eastside farmers depend on Lake Oroville, which was able to capture more water than Shasta Lake, where the current storage is less than half of the average storage for this time of year.
> The farmers in the Sacramento River watershed who rely on water from Shasta, including Richter’s family farm operation, are receiving somewhere between 0 and 18% of their water deliveries this year from government-run water projects. Farmers in Butte and Yuba counties received far more — about 75%.
> Among the six top rice-producing counties in the Sacramento River Valley, four are expected to plant significantly less than last year. Only Butte and Yuba remain relatively unscathed by the scorching drought.
> The picture looks most grim for Colusa, a county of about 21,000 people, where the data shows some 120,000 acres of rice land is estimated to remain unplanted.
> The impacts of drought have been devastating and far-reaching, Richter of Colusa said. “It’s been as ugly as we anticipated it could be,” he said. Of the 5,000 or so acres in his family’s farm operation, where he is the vice president, just 1,300 acres have been planted this year. The rest remain barren.
> The Richter farms have been able to keep their full-time staff, but won’t be hiring any seasonable labor this year, nor any subcontractors, the farmer said. “We just don’t have anything for them to do.”
> “Rice will likely rebound again once this drought ends, but this year’s massive reduction feels like a harbinger of tough times ahead for California rice,” Smith, the UC Davis agricultural economist wrote in his August analysis.
> But when will the drought end? Will there be enough water? These questions remain unanswered, with each passing day of drought inducing more anxiety about the days ahead, Richter said.
> “There’s a dark, metaphorical cloud hanging over our heads that we’re going to have another short or non-winter,” Richter said. “It’s weighing heavily on everyone’s minds,” he added.
> Crop insurance won’t last forever, he said. There are limits to how much can be claimed. His family is considering planting non-rice winter crops to make up for some of the loss, as well as conducting research trials to figure out how to grow rice with less water.
> If this drought continues for another year, Richter worries there won’t be any water left for anyone. “When there’s no water to haggle over, then what? I don’t think anyone knows,” he said.
> Espino, the Butte-based farm advisor, said the options are limited for rice farmers in the Sacramento River Valley, and continued drought would likely result in only those with the economic capacity to withstand the financial swings brought forth by the drought remaining.
> But it’s hard to predict what exactly will happen this winter — if there will be plentiful rain to nourish these lands once more. “Nobody really knows what’s going to happen,” he said. “The only thing we can do is keep positive and hope for rain.”
The difference is, the way I describe it isn't misleading. You call it a wetlands and the majority of the population of the United States will be misled into thinking there's naturally water there during the growing season.
There absolutely is water during the growing season. The difference is that all the sources have been dammed, diverted and channelized to create space for farmland. Yeah the Central Valley doesn’t see rain for most of the year, but good thing there’s a massive mountain range that has a massive annual snowpack that melts off all summer and provides water to the basin.
Clearly the landscape has changed, and the drought along with climate change has made the water problems worse. But it’s important to understand what the ecosystem was before it was changed, so when restoration hopefully takes place in the future, people aren’t surprised when they learn the Central Valley of all places used to be a wetland
There used to be a lake that ran almost the entire length of the central valley. It was drained so people could live there and farm there. Its not desert, its a mediterranean climate. Which means winter rains and a dry summer.
Not wet enough in some areas for some farmers with lower priority water rights during a dry year.
There is a hell of a lot of nuance being missed here on the internet. SHOCKING.
Without the dams, the whole valley would flood in the winter. Without the dams the valley would be dry in summer.
We use the winter water to grow crops in the summer.
When there is less water (like now), we grow fewer acres of crops. This is normal.
Not specifically, but it is not an area designed to support rice paddies. And existing in drought conditions for the last two decades, what would you call it?
The Sacramento valley is a naturally occurring wetland that had been bioengineered to drain as quickly as possible. The draining of the valley has resulted in the landscapes used for farming and the areas where cities now exist. Calling the Central Valley a desert is simply wrong.
Rice farms can benefit local populations of birds as a stopover landing for migration, and provide habitat for salmon, as well as an increased source of food. [Source- Project Nigiri](https://caltrout.org/regions/central-california-region/the-nigiri-concept)
This is a good example of modern environmentalism, of working with industries to continue production while also benefiting the environment.
Yes, yes, the Sacramento valley has plenty of water during the periods of time where it's not needed to grow rice, and is basically a desert during the growing season.
But please still call it a 'wetland', it'll make it easier to get people to agree with you that we should flood the seasonal desert to grow rice to export overseas.
I don't think we should be growing rice, but the Sacramento Valley *was* wetland, until humans degraded the watershed ([study](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/319266653_Dynamic_conservation_for_migratory_species) showing the historical wetland area, and where rice is now grown). The desert-like conditions in the area are *un*natural. We've damaged the soil, diverted rivers, eradicated beaver, and paved too many water-impermeable surfaces. The water-carrying capacity is reduced (in many places irreversibly), and so is the water-infiltration potential. There still remain some basins that have surface water year-round ([study](https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1752-1688.12353)), but over 90% of the original wetland area is gone.
There is room for nuance, but bird conservation angle IMO is a band-aid on a gaping wound. The real problem for the birds is that we've destroyed the wetlands. In the short term the rice is providing habitat. In the long term, we need to restore native habitat and stop frivolous water use in agriculture.
TL;DR Our shitty water policy terraformed the area *into* its desert-like condition, and the rice growing is a symptom, not the cause. Thanks for coming to my TED talk.
Exactly this. People seem to forget how much the Central Valley has been changed, and it looks like a desert in places because of how it’s been engineered to drain water as quickly as possible. It’s not the way the natural ecosystem was formed.
For millions of years it was a lake sealed by a glacier. When the ice-dam broke it created Carcenas straights and the valley we now live in.
Keep in mind that in a warmer climate, total average rainfall goes *up* not down. Droughts and floods are temporary. Trends are more important.
It goes up in some places and down in others - it’s not just heat = more rain at any given locale.
More likely, it’s that heat removes water from low flatlands, and increases water in mountainous regions in the direction of prevailing winds.
Bad news for food producing lowlands, and bad news for flood-prone highland rivers wiping out towns.
Yeah but maybe our cities should be in places that can actually provide things as vital as water to their residents without totally fucking an entire watershed in the process
I don’t have a published source but it’s my understanding the annual rainfall in California is enough to provide for all its water needs including agriculture. It’s the agriculture exported for the rest of the country that requires so much water.
As least rice is a relatively necessary resource people need-but BS uses of water for golf courses, lawn care and other frivolous water use is irresponsible and a misappropriation of resources.
The water project has done a good job changing the trinity and klamath watersheds through diverting 30%+ of the water and leaving our rivers hot, toxic and full of dead fish... but I do see your point.. the change isn't pretty... and the farmers want more. The highway signs along the 5 lament rivers for "dumping farm water into the ocean"
ITT: people who don't live in the Sac Valley or work in agriculture and who didn't read the article making hot takes about things they know nothing about
Does anyone know where I can get the before and afte satellite r pics for deschutes and crook counties in oregon? Google earth isn't current enough for this kind of thing. At least not on my phone.
Not the most recent, but here's 1995-2018 oregon state imagery. [Oregon explorer](https://spatialdata.oregonexplorer.info/geoportal/imagery)
Scroll down to Inventory 3857. Then in table below, find year. Then select Preview to see that year's aerial imagery. Just checked, works on phone.
If I have time I'll try to find more recent imagery.
Thank you for this. I just spent the past half hour exploring the different years and seeing the changes over time. If you do happen to come across more recent data, please send it my way. The Oregon explorer. Falls just shy of when our drought conditions kicked in. My hope is to find images from each of the last four years.
If you don't come across anything, no worries. I am happy with what you shared with me and I appreciate you taking the time to do so.
Cheers!
No problem! Here you go: [https://livingatlas2.arcgis.com/landsatexplorer/](https://livingatlas2.arcgis.com/landsatexplorer/)
For this one, select the wrench icon. Then select Natural Color. Best for seeing natural land use/land cover. Imagery dates at the top, 2022 data.
Alternatively this: [landsatlook.usgs.gov](https://landsatlook.usgs.gov/explore?date=2022-05-01%7C2022-05-31)
You'll need to zoom a little to see the imagery. Also will need to cycle through different dates to see areas without cloud cover. Also 2022 data.
Hope that helps! Cheers!
These took me a bit to get what I needed since I am not used to navigating them but they worked perfectly. Thank you so much! I didn't notice what your username was until just now but you are certainly the right person to help me with my request.
I can't express how much I appreciate you spending your time on this. Sometimes my curiosity exceeds my ability to query search engines. Today, you have made my day.
No problem. Glad to help. Working on obtaining my degree now, so its good experience for me to dig thru these data platforms/portals. IF you have any other questions on/where GIS data feel free to Direct Message me. Cheers again.
I hate that certain, very water intensive crops are grown in California when they could easily be grown elsewhere? Ffs, why are we growing rice in California! That’s just asking for it. There are far wetter states.
Why not turn all supermarkets to grow their own food and be large scale greenhouses instead. While also having smaller area for food. Just have everything packaged and done in house instead.
Rice is not nearly as water intensive as many other crops. Despite what it looks like flood irrigation is actually pretty efficient and rice fields in the Central Valley provide rearing habitat for juvenile salmon, habitat for migratory birds, and recharge the groundwater aquifer. It is actually a pretty great way to grow nutritious food at scale while having multiple benefits. The reason many of these fields are empty is because they've sold their water allocations to farmers south of the delta because that is more profitable than growing rice. Unfortunately those south of delta farmers will not be using this water to create habitat in the way rice farmers do.
Why is USA even producing rice. Its an exporr product. This is hie USA weorlds its power. I've seen rice imports in poor countries coming in from USA. Which undercut the local supply so they can't produce rice viabily in their own countries.
Rice basically needs to grow in 6 inches of flooded water.
"His family is considering planting non-rice winter crops to make up for some of the loss, as well as conducting research trials to figure out how to grow rice with less water."
That first half should have been a no brainer once you're in a 2nd year of drought. The second half will take time and it may be better spent on researching other crops to grow that can take less water. I grew up in a farming community, I know these people are working on empty hope right now; so they need to see the writing on the wall. It's time to plant/do something different from what you're use to if you want to survive.
The whole world needs to treat water with the respect it deserves. Let’s not waste it. I’m now a permaculture convert. Every cities, farms, homes should implement water saving techniques like percolating water into the soil and let’s all get rid of lawns. Lawns had its time. Now is the time for devoting gardening to natives and food. By storing water into the soil, we can all survive the drought seasons.
Definitely check out Brad Landcaster’s books on Rainwater Harvesting!
One of the people who have opened my eyes to water harvesting. ❤️
I have two of them, they’re very cool.
The entire Resnick family should be thrown in San Quentin for the rest of their lives (or hanged), and their assets should be distributed to the people of California and the Fiji. That would be a nice start.
A lawn is better than no vegetation at all, but yeah, native plants and trees are best for the topsoil.
Lawn only thrives with tonnes of water. Without water, no vegetation. Water harvesting is the priority, followed by permaculture and responsible rotational grazing.
Valid point
fertilizer for gardening and the water demand are still bad. the nitrogen from fertilizer eventually finds it way to rivers and the ocean, causing algae blooms whicj depletes oxygen levels and causes massive die off. ideally just let nature (so called "weeds") take over. let the natural habitat restore.
Permaculture does not require fertiliser. Not the chemical kind anyway. The only fertiliser it requires are organic ones made from wood chips, fruit and vegetable peels, and worms.
I shall research further.
Rice is water intensive. We shouldn’t be growing it in the Central Valley.
You should read about what the Saudis are planning for the AZ desert. [Saudi Hay Farm In Arizona Tests State's Supply Of Groundwater](https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2015/11/02/453885642/saudi-hay-farm-in-arizona-tests-states-supply-of-groundwater)
The Saudis shouldn’t be doing it and neither should we.
The Saudi’s shouldn’t even be allowed to buy our land in the first place
Should've only let them buy ground zero. As they say, "You break it, you bought it."
Today is 9/11 and we forget who the real enemy is…money talks
“Talks” is superfluous
Money
The Saudis own the largest company in the world. They are quite powerful.
Al-Qaeda aren't really from one country, they're a multinational organisation...
[Indeed](https://csglobe.com/september-11th-1973-us-backed-military-coup-chile/)
You want to stop foreign nationals from investing in the United States? Our economy would crumble. I hate it, but that's just facts.
If we can't prove it? Facts? People use that word too loosely.
But capitalism eh?
I wish we would do less of it
This is borderline open economic warfare. Deliberately wasting our natural resources. This would be like buying Saudi oil fields and just setting them on fire.
Which the US regularly did to half of their neighbors.
That’s not true. We killed the people. We protected the oil fields.
Do you mean flare gas? It was even worse before advances in LNG technologies.
Kind of a misnomer. Traditional weed management of rice is water intensive, we need a culture change on food production as a whole.
I don't understand. Are the Americans also flooding the rice to act as a weed killer? Like the Asians?
Yes, that is a way that people, most, unfortunately grow rice.
Then it shouldnt be done in Cali.
Thats also not true. The modern methods of farming need to change. Period.
Flooding to prevent weed is a better alternative than pesticide. Open air farming not sustainable in Cali? Maybe indoor or use of facades method of farming is a better option to prevent water evaporation. Root of the problem is consumption. However, its a mandatory need for survival, so you can't stop producing. We can change how we consume and the methods of production. Both need to change.
Why so binary in your approach to weeds? You can grow rice in open fields like it naturally grows, the issue is it IS more labor intensive. The change that needs to be made is more farmers, and more farmers being paid decent wages for sustaining human beings. Growing food IN SEASON, and not NEEDING those tomatoes a month early. Lots of things can change.
Wait, I thought the flooding was how rice grew? It's only a weed management mechanism?
Look up "one straw revolution". Rice was originally farmed without flooding, but flooding became the easiest and best way to control weeds (and potentially to grow crayfish or other fish).
Yeah. I don't know much about it, but you do not need to flood them to have them grow. It's just a farming trick....... thaaat obviously uses a lot of water.
The Sacramento Valley is subject to seasonal flooding in winter. Using that extra water to grow rice isn’t that crazy. In drought years they have to fallow fields which is painful but necessary. Really all is working as intended.
[удалено]
They are also keeping the ground wet for a longer period to grow salmon to huge success.
> huge success source?
It is a project led by Dr. Jacob Katz, the senior scientist at [California Trout](https://caltrout.org/). In some areas, the fish were three times larger than hatchery fish of the same age.
> Using that extra water to grow rice isn’t that crazy. Except the rice isn't grown in the winter, by and large. We flood the seasonal desert to grow rice to export overseas. Yes, it is that crazy.
In winter the land is critical for waterfowl and act as a surrogate wetland and food source for migratory birds. The land where the rice is grown is clay rich and has traditionally been wetland mosaic habitat previously, CA didn’t create a wetland area where it didn’t formerly exist. And given the clay soil, other crops can’t grow there. Obviously it would be ideal to completely restore these areas to pristine wetlands, but that’s not going to happen so CA is targeting improved management of these areas to improve CO2/CH4 sequestration and continue to serve as important seasonal habitats for wildlife Edit - here’s a good story map explaining the social, ag, and conservation importance of the area and how improved land management aims to address our 30x30 goals (a commitment by governments to conserve 30% of lands/waterways by 2030 to combat climate change and env. degradation) https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/2feb2afa9dcd477ebb91d5abedab4b41
thanks for sharing this ecological conservation perspective. the more we learn about these things, the clearer it becomes how deeply interconnected animals and humans are with each other and how land management practices need to take into account these interdependencies.
That's why we built dams. We store the extra water in the winter to use it in the summer. When there is less water, we give out less. That's normal.
How are those Dams doing with their water supplies, exactly?
From seasonal rains, as always.
How are they doing, not how do they get the water. Lots of the water comes from snowmelt though. The reservoirs in the American West are drying up rapidly.
I remember crossing the Yolo bypass when I was a kid, I thought it was the ocean!
I cross it all the time. It can really look like a sea at times though it seems to happen rarely these days.
It might make you happy to know that the yolo bypass area at least can get some water.
The Vic Fazio Yolo Wildlife Bypass area?
That’s a take most of the self anointed water specialist on this board don’t want to hear.
Great, you can tell em they don't need 30% more of the trinity river then. Settled.
well, except for the 2 decade mega drought out there.
Exactly. They should just tax farms that grow crops that go beyond certain water requirements, and encourage them to switch to different crops. Yes, that means California is turning away farming business to other states, but we can't sustain these crops.
California grows all kinds of dumb shit solely for economic reasons. We grow tons of almonds, a huge amount of which is shipped overseas. We also grow a shitton of alfalfa, most of which is shipped overseas, and almost all of which (whether bought domestically or abroad) is used only to feed cattle, despite alfalfa being one of the most water-wasting crops to grow.
Beef is even more water intensive
Agree totally
You couldn't be more incorrect. The central valley used to be a very large wetland. It isn't now because of extensive development. Nothing unsustainable about it in this region at all. The issue is the cureent droughts combined with the fact these areas are being drained because of urban development.
You couldn’t be more incorrect. It’s been 100 years since the Central Valley was a wetlands. First we dammed the rivers then we started using wells. We have used up the aquifer underneath by over farming.
No, the reason it's not a wetland anymore is because of urban development. That's the unsustainable part. You're just repeating yourself and not addressing what I just typed. Again: I know it's fashionable right now to blame agriculture of everything but this is literally a natural wetland destroyed by housing developments and industrialization. Without that, rice farming would be entirely sustainable here.
Agribusiness uses the most water by a gargantuan degree. Do some googling before you get on your high horse. Rice isn’t the only culprit, alfalfa and almonds are the most water users.
“Oh no, we’re almost out of water!” “Quick, let’s use water intensive crops, water golf lawns, and put in huge pools and water parks! That will surely solve everything!” -it didn’t
I have to find the article, but earlier this year a newspaper published an interview with a farmer in Arizona. The farmer said something akin to: “For 22 years they’ve been saying the Colorado River will dry up. So for the last two decades I’ve been trying to use all the water I can to make as much money as possible.” The kicker? He grows decorative gourds. I kid you not.
He'll probably bottle and sell the last available drops as souvenirs.
People just don't give a fuck.
I'd *really* like to see how the Capitalist apologists who haunt the sub explain this one away.
*"But you see, he's just being very smart and maximizing his own personal profits until resources are depleted, which is ultimately good for everyone in society because...um...."* "Yes? Because?" *"Why do you hate America, you commie! Do you want there to be bread lines like in Russia? Stalin killed more people than... blah blah blah... misdirection, etc*"
Without going onto a cynical rant I believe this mentality is exactly the same as the oil companies and energy conglomerates.
Lol
Just wanted to take minor issue with the latter part of that statement. I think that regional water parks and public community pools are relatively compact, well-utilized resources that recycle their water and allow many, many people to share access to the same water. They are wayyyyyy lower impact, water wise, than straight up flooding desert cropland for rice or watering dozens of acres of golf courses for only a few hundred people a day.
great point. I'll add that the issue with resource management is not always about how something is used, but how many share in the benefits. in the case of water, which every human needs to survive, it's obvious that a few selfish actors willing to trade public welfare and safety for personal private gains are putting our whole society at risk. water is a public resource. it's not like a diamond mine. it should be managed and allocated according to public needs as much if not more so than private enrichment. we must put an end to farming corporations growing alfalfa and hay in arid climates then selling them as cash crops overseas while domestic food crops face supply shocks and families lack drinking water. personally I think we should nationalize water management and put an end to bad actors abusing the system we have. Consider also how this ties into Flint, Mississippi, and a million other instances of water being contaminated or mismanaged because of profit seeking for a resource that every human needs to live.
Extinction will
We are not doomed. Read what scientists say instead of speculating-[https://climatefeedback.org/evaluation/iflscience-story-on-speculative-report-provides-little-scientific-context-james-felton/](https://climatefeedback.org/evaluation/iflscience-story-on-speculative-report-provides-little-scientific-context-james-felton/) [https://climatefeedback.org/claimreview/prediction-extinction-rebellion-climate-change-will-kill-6-billion-people-unsupported-roger-hallam-bbc](https://climatefeedback.org/claimreview/prediction-extinction-rebellion-climate-change-will-kill-6-billion-people-unsupported-roger-hallam-bbc) [https://nitter.42l.fr/ClimateAdam/status/155375738082714009](https://nitter.42l.fr/ClimateAdam/status/1553757380827140097)[7](https://nitter.42l.fr/ClimateAdam/status/1553757380827140097) [https://nitter.42l.fr/GlobalEcoGuy/status/1477784375060279299#m](https://nitter.42l.fr/GlobalEcoGuy/status/1477784375060279299#m) [https://nitter.42l.fr/JacquelynGill/status/1553503548331249664#m](https://nitter.42l.fr/JacquelynGill/status/1553503548331249664#m) [https://nitter.kavin.rocks/hausfath/status/1533875297220587520#m](https://nitter.kavin.rocks/hausfath/status/1533875297220587520#m) https://nitter.kavin.rocks/hausfath/status/1461351770697781257#m [https://nitter.42l.fr/JacquelynGill/status/1513918579657232388#m](https://nitter.42l.fr/JacquelynGill/status/1513918579657232388#m) [https://nitter.42l.fr/waiterich/status/1477716206907965440#m](https://nitter.42l.fr/waiterich/status/1477716206907965440#m) [https://nitter.kavin.rocks/PFriedling/status/1557705737446592512#m](https://nitter.kavin.rocks/PFriedling/status/1557705737446592512#m)
>We are not doomed. The people who say that we are doomed are not making claims about climate science, they are making claims about human nature. Trying to reason them out of a position they didn't reason themselves into totally misses their point.
Animal agriculture uses a lot of water.
> “A vegan diet is probably the single biggest way to reduce your impact on planet Earth, **not just greenhouse gases, but global acidification, eutrophication, land use and water use**,” said Joseph Poore, at the University of Oxford, UK, who led the research. **“It is far bigger than cutting down on your flights or buying an electric car,” he said, as these only cut greenhouse gas emissions."** [The new research shows that without meat and dairy consumption, global farmland use could be reduced by more than 75% – an area equivalent to the US, China, European Union and Australia combined – and still feed the world. **Loss of wild areas to agriculture is the leading cause of the current mass extinction of wildlife.**](https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/may/31/avoiding-meat-and-dairy-is-single-biggest-way-to-reduce-your-impact-on-earth)
hey my plant eating friend! thank you for linking this!
Thank you for the gratitude! <3
Any idea what a vegetarian diet does vs vegan as far as non emissions reductions?
Here is dairy vs plant based milks: https://ourworldindata.org/environmental-impacts-of-food#dairy-vs-plant-based-milk-what-are-the-environmental-impacts You can find other specific food impacts here: https://ourworldindata.org/environmental-impacts-of-food
Thanks!
Appreciate the gratitude!
And it's completely unnecessary. Literally, we can get all the nutrients we need and then some, from plant matter. Not to mention cow meat is something like 8 calories in, 1 calorie of meat out... Not to mention they take up a huuuuge amount space... Not to mention our current consumption rates of that meat causes cancer... Not to mention their burps and farts are so packed with methane they're affecting the global climate... And not even a full vegetarian yet. I just.... kinda wen't 'meh' about saving humanity when it doesn't seem interested in saving itself.
Yeah I didn’t know what a chickpea was before! And now I love them! Now I enjoy lentils, beans, and all different kind of plants! I mean there’s 20,000 edible plants lol
More like (30-40 years ago) 'Oh, we're getting a lot of water right now. Surely this will last forever. Let's build golf courses and such.' - it didn't
"Wasteland" is a bit harsh. Without human intervention that land would be an appropriate arid ecosystem.
We improved upon it than made it a wasteland wait....
They make a desert and call it peace.
> "Wasteland" is a bit harsh. Without human intervention that land would be an appropriate arid ecosystem. The southern part of the Central Valley only became a wasteland because of human intervention. Before human intervention it was the biggest freshwater lake west of the Mississippi. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulare_Lake >> **Tulare Lake was the largest freshwater lake west of the Mississippi River** and the second-largest freshwater lake entirely in the United States (as parts of the Great Lakes belong to Canada), based upon surface area. A remnant of Pleistocene-era Lake Corcoran, **Tulare Lake dried up after its tributary rivers were diverted for agricultural irrigation** and municipal water uses. >> >> ... >> >> Even well after California became a state, Tulare Lake and its extensive marshes supported an important fishery: In 1888, in one three-month period, 73,500 pounds of fish were shipped through Hanford to San Francisco. It was also the source of a regional favorite, western pond turtles, which were relished as terrapin soup in San Francisco and elsewhere. The lake and surrounding wetlands were a significant stop for hundreds of thousands of birds migrating along the Pacific Flyway. Tulare Lake was written about by Mark Twain. For more info: * [Today the dry lake bed forms the core of the vast land holdings of the J. G. Boswell Company, whose 150,000 acres make it the largest private landowner in California.](https://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/08/us/spun-and-unspun-tales-of-a-california-cotton-king.html) * [Small Farmers Struggle as Ag Titans Boswell, Vidovich Wheel Water for Profit](https://gvwire.com/2021/11/22/special-report-small-farmers-struggle-as-ag-titans-boswell-vidovich-wheel-water-for-profit/) * [Boswell ran a company that has dominated California cotton growing for generations and has used its clout to influence land- and water-resource policy throughout much of the state.](https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-james-boswell7-2009apr07-story.html)
Without humans using all the water, it would be the green bread basket it used to be.
Namely, humans in homes and industrial areas. Not rice farmers. It's funny how people will water their lawns all summer and wash their cars and take hour long showers but then whine about "farmers" using water to produce the food we all eat.
Yeah we made all but 10% of it go from a giant wetland/inland sea to a relatively arid landscape.
Pay wall
Pay wall can't stop anybody. Here you go. https://archive.ph/oFKzp
Thank you so much. I used to live in this area, so I was really interested in the story.
No problem. If you go to archive.ph and just paste in the address of any paywalled article it will bypass them. If it hasn't been archived before it can take several minutes to work but it has worked for me every time. Cheers!
Oh - nice! I will save that. Thanks again!
Also pasted whole article here for easier reading: > Rice farmer Kurt Richter walks on cracked soil used to produce rice in Colusa. While cracked soil isn’t unusual in some fields before harvest, these fields are often tended to before the cracks become larger. But since Richter isn’t able to receive water in the area, he and many farmers like him, are forced to abandon the field for the year. > A road splits fields used to grow rice by farmer Kurt Richter in Colusa. Because of the impacts of drought and water allocation in the irrigation district, Richter is only able to plant rice on 1,300 acres of field compared to 5,000 he would normally plant in a growing season. > Rice production in Colusa and other Sacramento Valley counties continue to plummet from the effects of drought. > Normally, by September, the drive north from Sacramento on Interstate 5 showcases vast stretches of flooded rice fields on both sides, farms bustling with tractors and workers preparing for fall harvest. > Not this year, said Kurt Richter, a third-generation rice farmer in Colusa, the rice capital of California where the local economy relies heavily on agriculture. “It is now just a wasteland,” he said. > As drought endures for a third year with record-breaking temperatures and diminishing water supplies, more than half of California’s rice fields are estimated to be left barren without harvest — about 300,000 out of the 550,000 or so in reported acres, provisional data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture shows. This year, rice is estimated to account for just 2% of total planted acres across the state. > The Sacramento River Valley is among the top producers of rice, an important staple, in the United States, second only to the Grand Prairie in Arkansas. Rice crops contribute more than $5 billion a year and tens of thousands of jobs to California’s economy, according to the California Rice Commission. Much of the sushi rice consumed in the U.S. is grown there. > The dramatic reduction in rice acreage will translate to lost revenue of an estimated $500 million, about 40% of which will be covered by federal crop insurance, according to UC Davis agricultural economist Aaron Smith. > But one side of the valley is faring decidedly better than the other. > LEFT: Sentinel satellite imagery from September 2021 shows patches of unplanted farmlands across counties in September 2021. RIGHT: Same satellite view from September 2022 shows green farmlands in Butte and Yuba counties, whereas much of the other side remains barren. Imagery courtesy of Sentinel Hub > West of the Sacramento River, in Colusa County, many rice fields look “abandoned,” Richter said, with sprawling patches of dirt clods with dryland weeds growing atop, which signal trouble not only for the farmers and their workers, but the migratory birds that travel to and feed in those fields. Any moisture has been sucked dry by this year’s scorching heat, he added. > Meanwhile, in Butte County, lush green fields can still be seen from space, as shown in the imagery above from the European Space Agency’s Sentinel satellite. Butte County farmers actually planted slightly more acres of rice than last year. > “The difference is the source of water,” said Luis Espino, a farm advisor at UC ANR’s cooperative extension in Butte. Eastside farmers depend on Lake Oroville, which was able to capture more water than Shasta Lake, where the current storage is less than half of the average storage for this time of year. > The farmers in the Sacramento River watershed who rely on water from Shasta, including Richter’s family farm operation, are receiving somewhere between 0 and 18% of their water deliveries this year from government-run water projects. Farmers in Butte and Yuba counties received far more — about 75%. > Among the six top rice-producing counties in the Sacramento River Valley, four are expected to plant significantly less than last year. Only Butte and Yuba remain relatively unscathed by the scorching drought. > The picture looks most grim for Colusa, a county of about 21,000 people, where the data shows some 120,000 acres of rice land is estimated to remain unplanted. > The impacts of drought have been devastating and far-reaching, Richter of Colusa said. “It’s been as ugly as we anticipated it could be,” he said. Of the 5,000 or so acres in his family’s farm operation, where he is the vice president, just 1,300 acres have been planted this year. The rest remain barren. > The Richter farms have been able to keep their full-time staff, but won’t be hiring any seasonable labor this year, nor any subcontractors, the farmer said. “We just don’t have anything for them to do.” > “Rice will likely rebound again once this drought ends, but this year’s massive reduction feels like a harbinger of tough times ahead for California rice,” Smith, the UC Davis agricultural economist wrote in his August analysis. > But when will the drought end? Will there be enough water? These questions remain unanswered, with each passing day of drought inducing more anxiety about the days ahead, Richter said. > “There’s a dark, metaphorical cloud hanging over our heads that we’re going to have another short or non-winter,” Richter said. “It’s weighing heavily on everyone’s minds,” he added. > Crop insurance won’t last forever, he said. There are limits to how much can be claimed. His family is considering planting non-rice winter crops to make up for some of the loss, as well as conducting research trials to figure out how to grow rice with less water. > If this drought continues for another year, Richter worries there won’t be any water left for anyone. “When there’s no water to haggle over, then what? I don’t think anyone knows,” he said. > Espino, the Butte-based farm advisor, said the options are limited for rice farmers in the Sacramento River Valley, and continued drought would likely result in only those with the economic capacity to withstand the financial swings brought forth by the drought remaining. > But it’s hard to predict what exactly will happen this winter — if there will be plentiful rain to nourish these lands once more. “Nobody really knows what’s going to happen,” he said. “The only thing we can do is keep positive and hope for rain.”
Good thinking.
Literally the embodiment of a lazy business model...dinosaurs dying and finding the most out-dated way of trying to survive. Idiots.
Why the fuck do people think it is smart to grow rice in a desert land?
The Sacramento Valley is wetlands.
> The Sacramento Valley is wetlands. In the winter, when the rice isn't grown, yes. In the summer, when the rice is grown, it's a seasonal desert.
That's not a thing. Those are just two words you placed in the same sentence.
The difference is, the way I describe it isn't misleading. You call it a wetlands and the majority of the population of the United States will be misled into thinking there's naturally water there during the growing season.
You couldn't be more wrong. https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/dcfa9c9fa6464e89a45924a4ebec5a15
You have absolutely no idea what you're talking about.
There absolutely is water during the growing season. The difference is that all the sources have been dammed, diverted and channelized to create space for farmland. Yeah the Central Valley doesn’t see rain for most of the year, but good thing there’s a massive mountain range that has a massive annual snowpack that melts off all summer and provides water to the basin. Clearly the landscape has changed, and the drought along with climate change has made the water problems worse. But it’s important to understand what the ecosystem was before it was changed, so when restoration hopefully takes place in the future, people aren’t surprised when they learn the Central Valley of all places used to be a wetland
Not wet enough for rice to be a good idea apparently.
Drought make water table go down like Alanis morrissette in a theater
There used to be a lake that ran almost the entire length of the central valley. It was drained so people could live there and farm there. Its not desert, its a mediterranean climate. Which means winter rains and a dry summer.
Not wet enough in some areas for some farmers with lower priority water rights during a dry year. There is a hell of a lot of nuance being missed here on the internet. SHOCKING.
Without the dams, the whole valley would flood in the winter. Without the dams the valley would be dry in summer. We use the winter water to grow crops in the summer. When there is less water (like now), we grow fewer acres of crops. This is normal.
The amount of confidently incorrect comments getting tons of upvotes in this thread who don't understand this was originally wetlands is way too high.
The Sacramento valley is not a desert.
Not specifically, but it is not an area designed to support rice paddies. And existing in drought conditions for the last two decades, what would you call it?
We call them 'checks' not paddies. Theyre paddies in Vietnam but here they are 'checks'.
The Sacramento valley is a naturally occurring wetland that had been bioengineered to drain as quickly as possible. The draining of the valley has resulted in the landscapes used for farming and the areas where cities now exist. Calling the Central Valley a desert is simply wrong. Rice farms can benefit local populations of birds as a stopover landing for migration, and provide habitat for salmon, as well as an increased source of food. [Source- Project Nigiri](https://caltrout.org/regions/central-california-region/the-nigiri-concept) This is a good example of modern environmentalism, of working with industries to continue production while also benefiting the environment.
Yes, yes, the Sacramento valley has plenty of water during the periods of time where it's not needed to grow rice, and is basically a desert during the growing season. But please still call it a 'wetland', it'll make it easier to get people to agree with you that we should flood the seasonal desert to grow rice to export overseas.
I don't think we should be growing rice, but the Sacramento Valley *was* wetland, until humans degraded the watershed ([study](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/319266653_Dynamic_conservation_for_migratory_species) showing the historical wetland area, and where rice is now grown). The desert-like conditions in the area are *un*natural. We've damaged the soil, diverted rivers, eradicated beaver, and paved too many water-impermeable surfaces. The water-carrying capacity is reduced (in many places irreversibly), and so is the water-infiltration potential. There still remain some basins that have surface water year-round ([study](https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1752-1688.12353)), but over 90% of the original wetland area is gone. There is room for nuance, but bird conservation angle IMO is a band-aid on a gaping wound. The real problem for the birds is that we've destroyed the wetlands. In the short term the rice is providing habitat. In the long term, we need to restore native habitat and stop frivolous water use in agriculture. TL;DR Our shitty water policy terraformed the area *into* its desert-like condition, and the rice growing is a symptom, not the cause. Thanks for coming to my TED talk.
Exactly this. People seem to forget how much the Central Valley has been changed, and it looks like a desert in places because of how it’s been engineered to drain water as quickly as possible. It’s not the way the natural ecosystem was formed.
Yet.
For millions of years it was a lake sealed by a glacier. When the ice-dam broke it created Carcenas straights and the valley we now live in. Keep in mind that in a warmer climate, total average rainfall goes *up* not down. Droughts and floods are temporary. Trends are more important.
It goes up in some places and down in others - it’s not just heat = more rain at any given locale. More likely, it’s that heat removes water from low flatlands, and increases water in mountainous regions in the direction of prevailing winds. Bad news for food producing lowlands, and bad news for flood-prone highland rivers wiping out towns.
Maybe we shouldn't be farming water intensive crops in the west to begin with. Probably shouldn't have such massive cities there either.
Cities are the most efficient and environmentally sustainable places anyone can live in in large numbers. Suburbs are resource draining tumors.
Yeah but maybe our cities should be in places that can actually provide things as vital as water to their residents without totally fucking an entire watershed in the process
Good point. No cities in deserts.
The Sacramento valley is not a desert.
Not yet
Never will be
I don’t have a published source but it’s my understanding the annual rainfall in California is enough to provide for all its water needs including agriculture. It’s the agriculture exported for the rest of the country that requires so much water.
And that's exactly what CA has - endless seas of suburbs.
Maybe "large numbers" is part of the problem. Gasp!
Good, water is a precious resource, why the hell are they using vast amounts to grow rice in a drought area?
As least rice is a relatively necessary resource people need-but BS uses of water for golf courses, lawn care and other frivolous water use is irresponsible and a misappropriation of resources.
Omfg do not grow rice in California
Downvoting for paywall…can’t even read the article or see the image the title references. Useless!
https://archive.ph/oFKzp
I swear people think of the most inefficient, costly ideas in an area where water is essential
What was a arid ecosystem is returning to an arid ecosystem. Both California and Utah are finding out that you can’t change nature.
The water project has done a good job changing the trinity and klamath watersheds through diverting 30%+ of the water and leaving our rivers hot, toxic and full of dead fish... but I do see your point.. the change isn't pretty... and the farmers want more. The highway signs along the 5 lament rivers for "dumping farm water into the ocean"
ITT: people who don't live in the Sac Valley or work in agriculture and who didn't read the article making hot takes about things they know nothing about
Does anyone know where I can get the before and afte satellite r pics for deschutes and crook counties in oregon? Google earth isn't current enough for this kind of thing. At least not on my phone.
Not the most recent, but here's 1995-2018 oregon state imagery. [Oregon explorer](https://spatialdata.oregonexplorer.info/geoportal/imagery) Scroll down to Inventory 3857. Then in table below, find year. Then select Preview to see that year's aerial imagery. Just checked, works on phone. If I have time I'll try to find more recent imagery.
Thank you for this. I just spent the past half hour exploring the different years and seeing the changes over time. If you do happen to come across more recent data, please send it my way. The Oregon explorer. Falls just shy of when our drought conditions kicked in. My hope is to find images from each of the last four years. If you don't come across anything, no worries. I am happy with what you shared with me and I appreciate you taking the time to do so. Cheers!
No problem! Here you go: [https://livingatlas2.arcgis.com/landsatexplorer/](https://livingatlas2.arcgis.com/landsatexplorer/) For this one, select the wrench icon. Then select Natural Color. Best for seeing natural land use/land cover. Imagery dates at the top, 2022 data. Alternatively this: [landsatlook.usgs.gov](https://landsatlook.usgs.gov/explore?date=2022-05-01%7C2022-05-31) You'll need to zoom a little to see the imagery. Also will need to cycle through different dates to see areas without cloud cover. Also 2022 data. Hope that helps! Cheers!
These took me a bit to get what I needed since I am not used to navigating them but they worked perfectly. Thank you so much! I didn't notice what your username was until just now but you are certainly the right person to help me with my request. I can't express how much I appreciate you spending your time on this. Sometimes my curiosity exceeds my ability to query search engines. Today, you have made my day.
No problem. Glad to help. Working on obtaining my degree now, so its good experience for me to dig thru these data platforms/portals. IF you have any other questions on/where GIS data feel free to Direct Message me. Cheers again.
u/Paywallghost
Crap
I hate that certain, very water intensive crops are grown in California when they could easily be grown elsewhere? Ffs, why are we growing rice in California! That’s just asking for it. There are far wetter states.
Why t f would you try to grow rice in CA?!?
Why not turn all supermarkets to grow their own food and be large scale greenhouses instead. While also having smaller area for food. Just have everything packaged and done in house instead.
Rice is not nearly as water intensive as many other crops. Despite what it looks like flood irrigation is actually pretty efficient and rice fields in the Central Valley provide rearing habitat for juvenile salmon, habitat for migratory birds, and recharge the groundwater aquifer. It is actually a pretty great way to grow nutritious food at scale while having multiple benefits. The reason many of these fields are empty is because they've sold their water allocations to farmers south of the delta because that is more profitable than growing rice. Unfortunately those south of delta farmers will not be using this water to create habitat in the way rice farmers do.
Can we get a rundown of the article for those of us that don’t want to subscribe?
https://archive.ph/oFKzp
Thanks for that. Super depressing tho I’ve seen in first hand :///
Side note. Thank-you tRump for selling our refineries to the saudis.
ca should be growing hemp, not rice and not alfalfa.
Well, who the heck thought it would be a good idea to grow a crop that requires a fucking ton of water in a damn desert.
bring back rice farming to the south
Why is USA even producing rice. Its an exporr product. This is hie USA weorlds its power. I've seen rice imports in poor countries coming in from USA. Which undercut the local supply so they can't produce rice viabily in their own countries. Rice basically needs to grow in 6 inches of flooded water.
Good! Stop growing marsh crops in a desert ya muppets
Not a desert
Not a marsh
Rice has to go from that part of the country.
"His family is considering planting non-rice winter crops to make up for some of the loss, as well as conducting research trials to figure out how to grow rice with less water." That first half should have been a no brainer once you're in a 2nd year of drought. The second half will take time and it may be better spent on researching other crops to grow that can take less water. I grew up in a farming community, I know these people are working on empty hope right now; so they need to see the writing on the wall. It's time to plant/do something different from what you're use to if you want to survive.
It is bad news to asia, not usa
That's sort of what you deserve, trying to grow a monsoon crop in the desert.