Farmers to slash planting this year
 

Another reason to plant a garden this year. - scholarcoon

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28808767/

SAN FRANCISCO - Some of the nation's largest farms plan to cut back on planting this spring over concerns that federal water supplies will dry up as officials deal with the drought plaguing California.

Farmers in the Central Valley said Thursday they would forego planting thousands of acres of water-thirsty canning tomatoes and already have started slashing acreage for lettuce and melons.

As growers in Fresno and Kings counties prepared to sow their dry fields with tomato seeds this week, the giant water district that supplies the irrigation for their sprinklers warned them to think again.


Computer models of the state's parched reservoirs and this year's patchy snowfall showed shortages so extreme that federal officials could slash supplies down to zero, managers at the Westlands Water District told their members in an emergency conference call.

"We thought it was important to talk to our growers so they can make important planting decisions," said Sarah Woolf, a spokeswoman for Westlands, the coalition of giant agribusinesses in the state's fertile interior.

Too late?
Officials with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and the state Department of Water Resources plan to announce next month how much water they'll speed to farms and cities.

But farmers say that's too late, since they need to decide what to plant now, as they negotiate with banks for crop loans. Growers who are struggling to revive shriveled vines and dying trees say they're panicked at the thought of having to solely rely on well water of dubious quality.

Re: Farmers to slash planting this year
 

good video on the Argentina drought

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Re: Farmers to slash planting this year
 

Must....buy....more....food stockpiles.

Must....buy....more....seeds.

Just for giggles I went to look up the agricultural output by state. Most current data I found so far was 2004.

Crop output numbers converted to percentage of total U.S. crop output, source table 4 of http://www.ers.usda.gov/Data/AgProductivity/

California 14.1%

I checked the percentages of some states known for agriculture: Iowa 7.6%, Nebraska 4.8%, Kansas 3.4%. I think California is by far the largest; Iowa and Illinois look to be the next.

I wonder about trends in other states. I read an article in recent days that farmers were also buying less fertilizer--going without in some fields and applying less on others.

Re: Farmers to slash planting this year
 

Sad story about the effects of a drought. The reporter still managed to get the pc plug reference to "global warming"..

Re: Farmers to slash planting this year
 

There's a reason they say water = Blue Gold. (also a great book with the same name: Blue Gold). Never dismiss the importance of water!