[surfer7837]

I recommend Rotten on Netflix [1] that has an episode about Avocado farming. The whole series is super interesting anyway and explores modern day issues such as lack of water, climate change and globalisation.

[1] https://www.netflix.com/gb/title/80146284

[sparrc]

Personally I was very unimpressed with this documentary, especially the episode on avocado farming actually. It felt like they were trying to create a story out of nothing.

The fact is that crops take water to grow. All crops do. Avocados are on the higher side when looked at water used per pound (though not the highest), but they are still nowhere near the level of animal products. Avocados are also one of the most (if not the most) calorie-dense fruits, which means that their water per calorie is likely in line with most other fruit.

What exactly was the point Rotten was trying to make? That avocados are popular so now they are being grown more? who cares? You could say the same thing about literally every other fruit and vegetable on the planet.

[lhorie]

Interestingly, I saw a video recently that argued that the majority of water consumption for animal products comes from green water (aka direct precipitation) and the majority of that water is released back to the ground in the form of urination, which makes it less taxing to aquifer systems than crops like avocados and almonds, which are extremely water intensive and primarily consume groundwater drawn from subterranean water systems by artificial irrigation systems.

[jacobolus]

If water used in agriculture – including water sucked out of aquifers from wells – were appropriately priced, (a) water-intensive crops would move to places where water was more abundant, and (b) ways would be found to reduce water use.

Growing e.g. alfalfa, rice, cotton, or almonds in California (not to mention beef/dairy production) happens partly because water for agriculture is artificially cheap, not reflecting its true costs.

[njarboe]

I agree with you about alfalfa, rice, and cotton, but the central valley has the best conditions in the world for growing almonds. About 50% of the worlds production comes from there.

[jacobolus]

In that case, almond farmers should still pay closer to the true cost of the water. This would likely slightly raise world almond prices but it would encourage farmers to find ways to reduce water use, without fundamentally compromising the industry.

[sparrc]

is there a source for that besides youtube? all the scientists, UN, environmental orgs, etc. seem to be in agreement that animal products use the most water.

[cataphract]

I think you're referring to this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGG-A80Tl5g

Youtube suggested it to me recently as well.

[ufo]

IIRC most of the water used to produce meat goes into producing the animal feed.

[xyzzyz]

Yes, and most animal feed is human inedible stuff like grass and corn stalks. The water used to produce these is rain water that would fall and drain or evaporate from there either way.

[cortesoft]

That isn’t true. Most animal feed is grown with irrigated water.

[bluGill]

No,most is grown in the Midwest where there is no irrigation and shipped out. There is irrigation, but it's isn't most animal feed overall.

[adrianN]

Unfortunately at least some animal feed is human edible soybeans grown where just a short while ago a rainforest stood.

[Fnoord]

Animals poo and pee. Their feces increases nitrogen levels in ground. Which, if done en masse, is terrible for the soil. Look at the problems The Netherlands is facing. Veluwe is deteriorating.

[krs_]

IIRC didn't it also raise the issue of the cartels getting into the avocado business and threatening/kidnapping owners of orchards etc? Was there any truth to that?

[refurb]

Call me skeptical but most of the documentaries on Netflix are just entertainment. Selective filtering of facts, build up to a “gotcha moment”, all wrapped up in a tidy bow.

They are about as balanced and factual as a Facebook.

[lotsofpulp]

It’s really a disease. I see a lot of conversation about falsities flying around on Twitter and Facebook, but Netflix documentaries are extremely bad. Even the super famous Tiger one when the pandemic started was extremely lopsided and omitted tons of context and facts.

[refurb]

The latest one about the Cecil hotel is hot trash. They take an interesting story about the missing woman, entertain ridiculous conspiracy theories, interview so called “Internet sleuths” (what the hell?) only to wrap up at the end with “yeah, no mystery, she had a mental illness”.

Reminds me of the YouTube video that take 15 min to explain a 30 second concept.

[lotsofpulp]

History channel and regular cable TV had that programming too. I guess it was only a matter of time.