Californians are no stranger to droughts – the first recorded major drought lasted from 1928-1934. According the “California Drought Monitor” (started in 2000), the longest running drought in the state lasted from the end of 2011 to March of 2019.
In the recent decades, the years of summer drought have always led to water management criticisms. Facts and statistics are often hurled out of context at state Agriculture and Urban growth – the debate often worsening on social media platforms. Obviously these two communities of people are not mutually exclusive, and they need one another to succeed. Yet, this year especially, there seems to be even more fervor against farmers, and now the train of thought seems to be getting more dangerous.
This year, those conversational talking points seem to have taken a worse turn, as there are calls for farm crop regulation, and in certain cases – outright crop bans. Restriction on arable crops and outright bans on Almonds are now being discussed in major opinion outlets. And these same authors make false equivalencies to other areas of the world such as Saudi Arabia, as a guide to answering the water problem in California. These parallels they draw are most certainly wrong, and only prove how misinformed the authors are on the topic.
Let us first take a look at Saudi Arabia and there water management system compared to that of California. To equate the situation in California as being the same in Saudi Arabia, and saying that the solution to our water management crisis can be found in the Middle East, is only partly true. However, it falls vastly short when it is suggested that the government should directly interfere with US farmers’ choices when it comes to what they grow and how they grow it.
Saudi Arabia is about four times the size of California, with around three million less people. However, around 95% of the country is dessert and only about 1.5% of the country has arable land for crop use. Nearly 80% of its usable land is purposed for Agricultural including arable crops, permanent tree crop, and animal husbandry. It also has 2-3% of the population directly involved in Ag, similar to California and the US overall.
However, more than 80% of Saudi Arabia’s food needs are imported, though it does have a strong food processing export industry, particularly within the Middle East. Even though Saudi Arabia is currently on stable ground for its Agricultural needs, it has invested heavily in farmland in other countries around the world, including the US, which it owns tens of thousands of acres of farmland in.
About 80% of Saudi Arabia’s water supply is dedicated towards Agriculture, mostly from its natural aquifers, and with massive subsidies being given towards water and electrical infrastructure – billions of dollars a year spent currently, with the latest projects being built in the 80s. The government policy in Saudi Arabia is that if they need water, they will build the infrastructure to support that need. It gets done.
Saudi Arabia is also an investor in sea water desalination plants and infrastructure – the Middle East being responsible for around 60% of the entire worlds processed supply alone. Saudi Arabia has around 9 large plants, and 47 smaller plants, for a total of 56 sea water desalination plants, of which 85% of that supply is allocated to its population as potable water. And the government massively subsidizes the urban need of this water. Generally, sea water desalination costs around $2,200 per acre foot of processed water – about twice that of water that is naturally sourced. Yet, Saudi Arabia only has an average of 2” of rainfall a year, so what other choice would they have?
In contrast to this, let us look at California, and in general US infrastructure.
Geographically, the contrast is simple enough: California is around 25% desert, and about 25% of California is used in the pursuit of Agriculture. That is generally evenly split between all crop production, and animal Agriculture. Around 40% California Ag land is dedicated to arable crops.
California does not rely heavily on desalination technology, as we only have about 11 desalination plants, though with around 10 more expected to be made of the course of the next decade. Most of our water comes from our current aquifers and water infrastructure system – dams, canals, reservoirs, etc., relying on the collection of rainfall and snow melt we get in our state and neighboring states. And why wouldn’t it?
In California alone we get at least 10X the average rainfall as Saudi Arabia. In the top contiguous state it is more than 25X that of Saudi Arabia, and in no state is it less than 5X that of Saudi Arabia – including Nevada, which is mostly desert.
Yet much of it all, most of it all, is washed out freely to the ocean, going uncollected by our water infrastructure system – further depleting our own natural aquifers. Trillions of gallons a year in California alone are passed to the ocean.
This is because California and US politics overall are not in favor of repairing and building new and better electrical and water infrastructure systems. The last major infrastructure build in these sectors was done in the 60’s, nearly 70 years ago, with some sectors still being propped up by infrastructure that is closer to 100 years old. Whereas the Saudi’s spend billions a year on water and electrical infrastructure, and have the proactive attitude to build to grow – we do not seem to have that gumption. Though we do spend billions of dollars on water policy, it seems to be mostly through short term bonds and local funding taxes – with very little government subsidy and investment. Since this is such short term planning, the funds are not geared toward renovation, as much as they are toward administration and maintenance. Only about 25% of water funds are specific to Ag anyways – however, a complete infrastructure realization would help every industry sector – Ag, Urban, Industry, etc.
Not to mention, whenever water or electrical renovation is discussed, the eyebrows are raised, as there comes the inevitable threat of never-ending lawsuits from supposed environmental factions.
Our infrastructure systems have had to bare multiple population booms over the decades – far exceeding original design – as both Urban & Suburban areas sprawl forth – and continue to do so with no stop in sight. The Agricultural sector in California, and the rest of the US, has been punished with more and more demand of it as it supports the state, the nation, and the world. Farmers continue to do more with less, yet the Government and elements of the citizenry, take them for granted. Eventually something will break.
Politically and socially, of course, the Saudi government and California are at vastly different ends of the spectrum. Whereas, the Saudi ruling monarchy and the ministries they grant authority to can control the nation as they see fit – here in California we have a much valued democratic republic based in the concept of freedom.
Which is good for us – because government control and intervention in areas such as Agriculture, for a country as diverse and as large as ours – has never historically worked out for the best, without literally costing the lives and prosperity of millions of people those types controlling government policies declare to be helping.
For instance, if there was really a ban on Almonds alone in California, as a measure to “control” the drought it would completely destroy the California economy, and hit the US as a nation hard. Besides, such a policy recommendation is a completely ludicrous and reactive situation which would only eventually see us with the same problem anyway. It basically equates to nothing more than picking your left pocket to put a dollar in your right pocket, and thinking somehow you have made a difference.
13% of all US Agricultural production is based in California alone. California is the nation’s largest Ag producer and exporter – exporting around 28% of its volume, which alone is about a $22 Billion sector of the California economy. The rest of California Ag goes to feed the nation as a whole directly or as part of intrastate trade. California leads and feeds the world with its farmers.
California is the nation’s sole exporter of many agricultural commodities, supplying 99 percent or more of the following: almonds, artichokes, dates, figs, garlic, kiwifruit, olives and olive oil, pistachios, prunes, raisins, table grapes, tomatoes for processing, and walnuts.
More often than not, you always hear someone yell about how Ag is only 2% or so of the economy. But what does that really mean when you put a number of lives to it? Let’s look at just how important the Almond industry is itself in California.
Directly related to Almonds, there are about 6,800 farms, and more than 91% of those growers are family farms. Not to forget there are about 100 processing centers for Almonds in California as well. And there are just the direct business entities – not the actual people yet. The minimum averages of full time employees these farms have (which include family members) are at least 3 per farm. The processing centers at their minim averages are at least twice that for 6 full time employees per. This means at the bare minimum you have directly 21,000 jobs associated with direct Almond farming and processing alone – not including owners or other ancillary businesses. At a minimum, including additional service industries that are directly tied to Almond farming and processing, the latest data estimates it to be a minimum of 104,000 people, of which 97,000 of those are directly tied to the Central Valley – which is already an area strife with unemployment among other problems.
That is 104,000 people directly involved in some part of the Almond industry process. However, that does not include the dozens of towns that count on the people the industry brings in. It does not include the aspects of the shopping economy these jobs create – from car sales to fast food, to the basic housing market itself.
So what happens when you destroy an industry because you think it is only worth a fraction of a percent of the economy? What happens when you put 100,000 people more on the bread line? Will that not affect the rest of the community?
There has always been a solution to the drought issue in California, and it has been the same solution for the last 100 years, and it will always be the solution. And it is not some asinine misinformed conversation about crop regulation and crop bans as if we are a third world country.
We need better infrastructure. We need continued investment in infrastructure. We need to get to work.
