[GauntletWizard]

And what percentage of those agriculturally grown calories are you going to cut out from your diet to reduce those usages? How much more do you want us all to pay for food?

"Eighty percent of California's water goes to agriculture" is very literally saying "Eighty percent of California's water feeds people". There are cash crops that use a somewhat disproportionate amount of the water, but that is in no way reflected in your comment.

[JumpCrisscross]

> "Eighty percent of California's water goes to agriculture" is very literally saying "Eighty percent of California's water feeds people"

Alfalfa doesn't feed people [1]. It feeds cows that feed people. And nobody is going to starve because almonds and pistachios are pricier.

Moreover, California's agriculture is notoriously water inefficient [2]. Why wouldn't it be? What other behavior would you expect from agricultural multinationals for whom we've effectively zero rated a commodity input?

[1] https://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/specialsections/these-...

[2] https://calmatters.org/multimedia/2021/09/california-crops-d...

[GauntletWizard]

Absolutely. Great arguments. In no way reflected or referenced in the parent I was responding to.

[rcpt]

He very clearly addressed your question. I don't see the problem.

[bcrosby95]

Sure. But you can't ask California to solve "its" water problem while solving everyone's food problem. One of them has to give.

[ajmurmann]

We can solve the food problem with not efficient crops than pistachios and almonds and nobody had to eat beef either. Of water was priced at market price crops would be chosen where that strike the right balance between hope much people value the particular food vs what else we could do with the water. All that is a pipedream though, since farmers have wells and stuff instead of getting it from the faucet like I do.

[rcpt]

Water should be priced the same for everyone, there's no reason that alfalfa farmers should pay a hundredth of a percent that I do for the same resource.

[supertrope]

Nations will never stop agricultural subsidies due to national food security and rural district votes. It’s not just price supports and crop insurance but dams to deliver water and electricity.

Tap water is drinkable and plumbed into your home. That’s why it costs more than canal water that’s neither.

[matkoniecz]

Almonds are not needed for national food security.

[supertrope]

Neither is beef or cotton. Hence I alluded to rural district votes.