Say what you will about living in California but yesterday I wore a T shirt, cargo shorts & sneakers at the dog park before the Super Bowl game.......today it's 68 degrees and sunny with mild breezes.......sounds wonderful and it is gorgeous weather.....what a fabulous time to play golf, play tennis, schoolyard basketball, or practice baseball......... it's nirvana weather but for one sole aspect.......California has turned into a giant tinder box waiting to burn.
We haven't see rain in what seems like ages....worst drought in the our state's history and the rest of you are paying the price for our dilemma........lookout for much worst times ahead if we don't get rain soon.....this year's crops yield will be the worst.....crops of what you ask?
California produces a sizable majority of American fruits, vegetables, nuts and dairy products. Hmn....let's take a quick peek.
Artichokes 99%, Walnuts 99%, Kiwis 97%, Plums 97%, Celery 95% Garlic 95%, Cauliflower 89%, Spinach 71%, Carrots 69% and the list goes on and on......prices are going to soar and your household food budgets are going to take a big hit.
No other state. or any combination of states, can match California's output per acre. Lemon yields in California, for example, are more than 50% higher than in Arizona, California spinach yield per acre is 60% higher than the national average. Without California's contribution, prices will be exploding. Our state produces almost 1/2 of all US grown fruits, nuts and vegetables.....nearly 50%.......and without water, food prices will break through the ceiling.....How come? Because pumping ground water from very deep depths due to the aquifer water level dropping fast due to not being recharged with rainfall and snow melt runoffs is an expensive proposition.. So it requires operating giant horsepower pumps that use a lot of power costing hundreds of dollars for a few hours. The lack of snow runoff means the California Aqueduct system can't provide adequate surface water to the farmers and what can be provided is short-lived and costs a fortune. And utility prices for the power are going up because of the drought since the utility companies depend on hydro-electric power and with horrible snowpack amounts in the Sierra mountains, the cost of producing electricity or buying it from adjacent grids, is very expensive. And so the kilowatt cost for operating those pumps goes up and so does power in general.
Water drives California....not gasoline. And look at you guys buried in snow.....go figure but some pundits still preach no global warming exists...right? Okay let's not get into that tar baby subject in this thread but the drought is real. Your food budgets will become hard to handle for many and your family's menus will undoubtedly become affected.
Well, how thirsty is your Food?
1 head of broccoli requires 5.4 gals of water to be grown.
1 walnut....not a bag.....just a walnut....4.9 gals of water.
1 head of lettuce.......3.5 gals.
1 tomato.....3.3 gals.
1 almond.....1.1 gals.
1 pistachio...1.1 gals.
1 strawberry......0.4 gals.....almost 1/2 gallon of water.
1 grape....just 1 tiny grape....0.3 gals (1/3 gallon per grape which get sold by the bunch.)
The drought is killing agriculture, driving up the cost of grain and other animal feeds, which in turn drives up the cost of milk, butter, eggs, bread, and meat....those darn animals do like to eat. So start melting all that snow and build a pipeline to get some of that to California before the cost of eating goes through the roof.....or pray hard for some rain for us.......but in the meantime, I hope everyone in the Midwest and northeast fares well with this brutal winter....gotta run now....I have a tee time in 45 mins..........just tugging on your leg a bit.......But more seriously, those Azers with a home pool table are so much more fortunate than other Azers wishing to visit their local pool halls confronted with this challenging winter weather.
Matt B.
We haven't see rain in what seems like ages....worst drought in the our state's history and the rest of you are paying the price for our dilemma........lookout for much worst times ahead if we don't get rain soon.....this year's crops yield will be the worst.....crops of what you ask?
California produces a sizable majority of American fruits, vegetables, nuts and dairy products. Hmn....let's take a quick peek.
Artichokes 99%, Walnuts 99%, Kiwis 97%, Plums 97%, Celery 95% Garlic 95%, Cauliflower 89%, Spinach 71%, Carrots 69% and the list goes on and on......prices are going to soar and your household food budgets are going to take a big hit.
No other state. or any combination of states, can match California's output per acre. Lemon yields in California, for example, are more than 50% higher than in Arizona, California spinach yield per acre is 60% higher than the national average. Without California's contribution, prices will be exploding. Our state produces almost 1/2 of all US grown fruits, nuts and vegetables.....nearly 50%.......and without water, food prices will break through the ceiling.....How come? Because pumping ground water from very deep depths due to the aquifer water level dropping fast due to not being recharged with rainfall and snow melt runoffs is an expensive proposition.. So it requires operating giant horsepower pumps that use a lot of power costing hundreds of dollars for a few hours. The lack of snow runoff means the California Aqueduct system can't provide adequate surface water to the farmers and what can be provided is short-lived and costs a fortune. And utility prices for the power are going up because of the drought since the utility companies depend on hydro-electric power and with horrible snowpack amounts in the Sierra mountains, the cost of producing electricity or buying it from adjacent grids, is very expensive. And so the kilowatt cost for operating those pumps goes up and so does power in general.
Water drives California....not gasoline. And look at you guys buried in snow.....go figure but some pundits still preach no global warming exists...right? Okay let's not get into that tar baby subject in this thread but the drought is real. Your food budgets will become hard to handle for many and your family's menus will undoubtedly become affected.
Well, how thirsty is your Food?
1 head of broccoli requires 5.4 gals of water to be grown.
1 walnut....not a bag.....just a walnut....4.9 gals of water.
1 head of lettuce.......3.5 gals.
1 tomato.....3.3 gals.
1 almond.....1.1 gals.
1 pistachio...1.1 gals.
1 strawberry......0.4 gals.....almost 1/2 gallon of water.
1 grape....just 1 tiny grape....0.3 gals (1/3 gallon per grape which get sold by the bunch.)
The drought is killing agriculture, driving up the cost of grain and other animal feeds, which in turn drives up the cost of milk, butter, eggs, bread, and meat....those darn animals do like to eat. So start melting all that snow and build a pipeline to get some of that to California before the cost of eating goes through the roof.....or pray hard for some rain for us.......but in the meantime, I hope everyone in the Midwest and northeast fares well with this brutal winter....gotta run now....I have a tee time in 45 mins..........just tugging on your leg a bit.......But more seriously, those Azers with a home pool table are so much more fortunate than other Azers wishing to visit their local pool halls confronted with this challenging winter weather.
Matt B.
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