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Here is another dismal US Agriculture story. Many experts have predicted this type of disaster for YEARS! Just like the Financial Disaster which was avoidable and predicted:
http://www.reuters.com/article/envir...51J6MO20090221
Much of the US West is actually a desert. Most parts that are farmed have to have irrigation. This irrigation was provided by the States and Federal Governments, another example of US socialism at work. But now the irrigation patchwork is falling apart. There is an excellent book on this subject called Cadillac Desert.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cadillac_Desert
There is a link there to a four part video doc at:
http://web.archive.org/web/200302120...sert/home.html
After all that there is the Ogalalla Aquifer shoe to drop:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ogallala_Aquifer
Another great American Myth exploded, the Unlimited Bounty Of Its Agriculture.
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - California's main source of irrigation water is expected to go dry this year for most of its growers due to drought, idling at least 60,000 workers and up to 1 million acres of farmland, federal officials and experts said on Friday.
The zero allocation for most of the farmers who buy water from the federally managed Central Valley Project was declared as California water officials repeated their plans to cut amounts supplied from a separate state-run water system to 15 percent of normal.
The drought-forced cutbacks are a huge blow to thousands of farmers in the Central Valley, which produces over half of the fruit, vegetables and nuts grown in the United States. Higher prices are likely for a wide range of crops as a result.
The Central Valley, a fertile but arid region stretching some 500 miles from Bakersfield to Redding, is the agricultural heartland of California, which ranks as the nation's No. 1 farm state in terms of the value of crops produced -- more than $36 billion a year.
The principal source of water for farms and ranches in the valley is the federally built and managed CVP, a vast network of dams, pumping stations and canals that collects runoff from the Sierra Nevada mountain range and delivers it to irrigation districts throughout the region.
A recent forecast by University of California economists projected losses of 60,000 to 80,000 jobs and over $2 billion in income from a scenario like the one announced on Friday.
The zero allocation for most of the farmers who buy water from the federally managed Central Valley Project was declared as California water officials repeated their plans to cut amounts supplied from a separate state-run water system to 15 percent of normal.
The drought-forced cutbacks are a huge blow to thousands of farmers in the Central Valley, which produces over half of the fruit, vegetables and nuts grown in the United States. Higher prices are likely for a wide range of crops as a result.
The Central Valley, a fertile but arid region stretching some 500 miles from Bakersfield to Redding, is the agricultural heartland of California, which ranks as the nation's No. 1 farm state in terms of the value of crops produced -- more than $36 billion a year.
The principal source of water for farms and ranches in the valley is the federally built and managed CVP, a vast network of dams, pumping stations and canals that collects runoff from the Sierra Nevada mountain range and delivers it to irrigation districts throughout the region.
A recent forecast by University of California economists projected losses of 60,000 to 80,000 jobs and over $2 billion in income from a scenario like the one announced on Friday.
http://www.reuters.com/article/envir...51J6MO20090221
Much of the US West is actually a desert. Most parts that are farmed have to have irrigation. This irrigation was provided by the States and Federal Governments, another example of US socialism at work. But now the irrigation patchwork is falling apart. There is an excellent book on this subject called Cadillac Desert.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cadillac_Desert
There is a link there to a four part video doc at:
http://web.archive.org/web/200302120...sert/home.html
After all that there is the Ogalalla Aquifer shoe to drop:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ogallala_Aquifer
Another great American Myth exploded, the Unlimited Bounty Of Its Agriculture.
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