[milspec]

The really sad thing is that we build on our best farmland. If you want to grow apricots, the best place is San Jose. That whole area in fact is mighty good for farming.

People need to eat! Californians ought to be living in the foothills of the Sierra mountains. This puts them close to water and saves the more farmable land for farming.

Good farmland is flat, is not full of annoying boulders, and has nice weather. We thus pour slab foundations for giant 1-story McMansions and dig holes for giant swimming pools. Doing that in the foothills would be a short-term expense, so instead we'll destroy our best farmland forever.

[13thLetter]

Well, farmland exists to support the population, not the other way around. If farmland exists in adequate and sustainable quantities now, which it does, there's no need to push people to live in less pleasant locations to make room for more of it.