Drought spurs Calif. farmers to slash planting

[IDemo]

'It's ugly,' one grower says as tomato, melon and almond crops face hit

AP -updated 43 minutes ago

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.

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

[customerserviceguy]

1. I'd heard about the almond growers

but the tomato and melon growers' facing of drought was news to me.

Hang on tight, prices are due to rise. Many of us should consider growing tomatoes and melons in the back yard, if we have one. That will lower demand (and thus prices) for people who cannot do so.

[phantom power]

2. Time to open our vast secret govt cheese vaults.

[IDemo]

4. That will have little impact on Peak Cheese

[Crowman1979]

3. Can someone please explain to me why all these are these water consuming crops...

...are being grown in the desert? It makes no sense to me! Maybe if we demolish these unused lots of suburband subdivisions in the midwest and use that as farmland while more people live in actual cities, then california wouldnt have to worry about a drought and would consider growing crops that are more native to it's climate.

[Xithras]

8. Most of the California CV isn't desert.

The vast majority of the Valley qualifies as a "meditteranean" climate. We normally get a lot of rain during the winter which supersaturates the ground, and summers are dry. Before it was settled, the vast majority of the Central Valley floor was actually seasonal swamps and wetlands, and in particularly wet winters the Valley turned into an inland sea. While the Valley does get very dry in the late summer, it was never a desert.

The CVP simply altered the way water flows in the valley. Instead of it running out to sea during the winter, it's stored in the mountains and is released slowly throughout the years. The marshes were drained and turned into farms which now use that water. The system simply breaks down when you get a few dry years and those reservoirs go empty.

By the way, you'll notice that most of these articles about farmwater shortages involve the Westlands Water District. Westlands exists in one of the few areas that actually was dry before settlement and has no native water source. The rest of the valley has been largely untouched by the drought, and my own water district has recently informed us that there probably won't be any reduction in allocation this year. There is simply no excess to spare for "junior rights holders" like Westlands.

[kestrel91316]

5. Time to buy tomato seeds, people. Start your seeds indoors,

transplant outdoors at the right time for your area, and make this news item irrelevant.

IMHO the best canners are Roma, but some favor San Marzano, and Amish Paste is also nice but I am not sure it is as suitable for canning whole vs making sauce.

Any damned fool can grow tomatoes (2 Roma plants per person is a good start) and can them, and more damned fools need to. While you're at it, grow some nice slicers like Brandywine and Beefsteak, and some cherry tomatoes, and some easy salad tomatoes like Celebrity.

Famine: this is how it begins, unless everyone who CAN pitch in to help does so.

http://www.totallytomato.com/
http://www.freshpreserving.com/products/ball_blue_book_guide_to_preserving/2.php

[NickB79]

7. I was thinking the same thing, time to start planning those gardens

I have my grow light set-up ready to go (wooden frame of 1x4's supporting two fluorescent shop lights), and the watermelon, potato, tomato, pepper, and eggplant seeds are on the way.

[kestrel91316]

9. Put some potatoes in, too. Homegrown potatoes are TO DIE FOR.

I can't have a garden where I am, so I HAVE to buy my fruits and veggies. I sure wish anyone and everyone with the space would plant what dwarf fruit trees and veggie gardens they can, to decrease the store demand and help keep prices down for the rest of us.

Unfortunately that requires a social conscience, something in pretty short supply of late.

[NickB79]

10. Oh yeah, homegrown Yukon Golds and Russian Fingerlings are heavenly at Xmas

Mmmmmm. I'm just hoping my Reliance peach made it through our recent cold snap. It's rated down to -25F, and I insulated it with bales of straw and snow earlier in the year.

[DCKit]

6. CA uses a rediculous amount of water on landscaping.

If they used composting toilets, the rest of their wastewater (greywater) could be used for landscaping. If they did just these two things and scaled back on the non-native lawns, there wouldn't be droughts.

Regardless, I'll be making it a point to raise more tomatos and maybe some beans on the balcony this summer. Tomatos were >$3/lb. most of last summer here in DC.

[XemaSab]

11. 10% of California water goes towards urban uses

Telling the people who use the LEAST amount to make sacrifices so some hick in Hanford can flood irrigate his cotton field? Lame.

[DCKit]

12. Geez Xema, I was only repeating what I heard....

If the farmers are using 90% of the water, their rates need to be 90% of the cost. Dog knows they're not doing anything to conserve.

Try mulch, bitches.

[XemaSab]

13. Forgive me...

"Try mulch, bitches."

:rofl: