‘It’s a disaster.’ Drought dramatically shrinking California farmland, costing $1.7 billion in lost revenue, the state’s Agriculture Commissioner has declared a state of emergency. California is spending $1 million – $20 million more per week – to feed its 3 million people with surplus grain from the Colorado River reservoir, and is facing a near-constant deluge of dust, as a result of global warming.
Drought has turned farm country in the San Joaquin Valley into a desert that is losing money hand over fist.
It’s not that farmers are losing money. They haven’t. They are simply not earning enough to cover their costs of production – including feed, seed, fertilizer, labor, and equipment. The situation is so dire that it is sending shockwaves through global agriculture.
When you cut off the water, the plants die. When you cut off the plants, the crops die. The same is true for the animals that feed on them. When you cut off their food source, the animal dies. And when you cut off their food, the farmer dies.
That is what is happening to the San Joaquin Valley, in the heart of California’s Central Valley, following years of brutal droughts.
It’s a disaster. California is spending $1 million – $20 million more per week – to feed its 3 million people with surplus grain from the Colorado River reservoir, and is facing a near-constant deluge of dust, as a result of global warming.
California is about to lose its farm economy. It is already losing its ranching economy. And now droughts are going to bring down its agriculture industry, at enormous cost to the state – and especially the farms and ranches most dependent on it.
I can’t stand it. Nobody can.
I have said it before. People in California hate the poor. They have a hatred of the poor that is beyond my own comprehension. And now California has found an incredible way to get people’s attention: Make the poor angry. That is what it will do. And make sure the public is ready to respond.
After the last droughts, I said to an old friend who lives in Arizona, ‘Let’s sell the land.’ That was three years ago. He said, ‘It’s going to
