Can California’s Agriculture Survive Extreme Drought? Should It?

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KQED

News Commentary, News, Politics

4.2 • 727 Ratings

🗓️ 7 April 2022

⏱️ 56 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

California is in its third year of extreme drought. Given that, is it time to rethink California’s role as the breadbasket of the country? Agriculture brought in $49.1 billion to the state, nearly half of which was money made from exporting crops. But agriculture also uses 80% of the state’s water. Last year the industry lost 87,000 jobs, and crop land totaling an area bigger than Los Angeles went unplanted. What crops are reasonable to continue to produce? What should be jettisoned? And what crops and farm practices can be adaptable enough for the dwindling water supply? We’ll talk about the future of agriculture with experts and a farmer in the Central Valley. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:34.7	From KQED. From KQED. From KQED in San Francisco, I'm Alexis Madrigal.
0:51.1	We all know that the drought is bad.
0:53.4	After the incredibly dry first quarter of the year,
0:56.0	recent measurements found the Sierra snowpack is sitting at just 39% of normal.
1:00.0	Oof.
1:02.0	Well, it will probably mean water conservation measures for those of us here in the Bay.
1:05.0	For farmers in the Central Valley, it could mean a lot worse.
1:09.0	As the drought stretches on, can California farms survive?
1:13.2	And maybe more fundamentally, should they?
1:15.7	Today we talk about the future of water in the state and what it means for agriculture.
1:19.8	We'll be joined by a farmer, a water expert, and author Tom Philpott, who argued in his book
1:23.9	Perilous Bounty that a crisis was coming to California agriculture.
	...

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