State of Emergency in Washington?

myredracer wrote:
Maybe the solution is to control what farmers are allowed to grow in various regions instead of letting market demand determine what is grown. I rarely eat blueberries or almonds and wouldn't care if they were no longer available.

Outstanding idea on allowing farmers in drought regions to only grow water-efficient crops!!

I also wonder how much water those California wine grapes take ... we don't use wine either and would never miss it. We eat blueberries and almonds only because they're around ... never did as a kid ... and could stop now.

The last time I checked with my relative who used to be a professional large-acreage commercial farmer with all the barns, equipment, etc. - he did it for a living and used computers to help optimize crop return dollar margins - just like any business does regarding their margins. He wasn't in it for altruistic reasons - he was in it to make money.

Ooohh ... and while we're at it let's get rid of the swimming pools and lawns in the desert where they don't belong. Our spring and well almost dry up every August - no meters needed on them. We collect 15,000 gallons of excess spring and well water every winter and try to get by on it during the summer - or else buy trucked in water at around 8 cents per gallon for our household in order to make it through the rest of the year. (By the way ... what is a "lawn"?) I wonder how many farmers spend 8 cents per gallon for their almond water? At that rate, each almond would cost at least 8 cents and I'll bet almond consumption would cease in a heartbeat.

The way America's health is going ... it might do us good if our farmers switched to primarily fruits and vegetables anyway (with a few non-hormone cows and chickens thrown in).