Posted on Aug 17, 2021
Climate Change In California Is Threatening The World's Top Almond Producer
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https://www.npr.org/2021/08/17/ [login to see] /climate-change-california-drought-heat-almond-production
As temperatures recently reached triple digits, farmer Joe Del Bosque inspected the almonds in his parched orchard in California's agriculture-rich San Joaquin Valley, where a deepening drought threatens one of the state's most profitable crops.
Del Bosque doesn't have enough water to properly irrigate his almond orchards, so he's practicing "deficit irrigation" — providing less water than the trees need. He left a third of his farmland unplanted to save water for the nuts. And he may pull out 100 of his 600 acres (243 hectares) of almond trees after the late summer harvest — years earlier than planned.
As temperatures recently reached triple digits, farmer Joe Del Bosque inspected the almonds in his parched orchard in California's agriculture-rich San Joaquin Valley, where a deepening drought threatens one of the state's most profitable crops.
Del Bosque doesn't have enough water to properly irrigate his almond orchards, so he's practicing "deficit irrigation" — providing less water than the trees need. He left a third of his farmland unplanted to save water for the nuts. And he may pull out 100 of his 600 acres (243 hectares) of almond trees after the late summer harvest — years earlier than planned.
Climate Change In California Is Threatening The World's Top Almond Producer
Posted from npr.org
Farming
Agriculture
State of California
Climate Change
Water
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 3
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel Lack of Snow water from the Western Slope of the Sierras is causing underground water reservoirs to run dry. Over pumping of ground water has caused the water table to fall immensely, causing farmers to re-drill their wells to pump water from deeper in the ground.
The land in portions of California’s Central Valley has sunken 11 feet or more. Sinking of the land causes well casings to fracture and disrupts the flow of water in age-old irrigation canals and ditches.
The land in portions of California’s Central Valley has sunken 11 feet or more. Sinking of the land causes well casings to fracture and disrupts the flow of water in age-old irrigation canals and ditches.
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SSG (Join to see)
On top of that, here in far northern California, due to the wildfires CalFire and others are having to dip into the local bodies of water which is having very noticeable effects.
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CSM Charles Hayden
SSG (Join to see) I had never considered fire fighting water to be a drain on our resources. That is great input!
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SSG (Join to see)
CSM Charles Hayden yeah I'm here in Siskiyou county and here and our neighboring counties have wildfires galore. CalFire is out in full force and I'm obviously not mad at them for dipping into the lakes, more so observant of the effect of that mixed with the fact that water levels are already low
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Stokely wants the state to ban almonds. That's dumb. I agree that the water it takes to produce almonds is hurting California, but I'm also very critical of government bans, especially here in California. Where I would support restrictions would be on Nestlé bottling water here when we're in a drought. We're told to reduce water usage yet, this company is allowed to make a profit of the water we're told we don't have. Back to the almond growers, it would appear the growers are starting to see the need to diversify, which in and of itself, isn't a bad thing in this state. I'm not in the Ag industry, so I'm sure there's a lot I'm missing. Just my take on it.
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