No one tells the story of California's agricultural water crisis better than Mark Arax. The ag industry, especially the hedge funds, corporations, & suck-the-money-from-the-land-as-fast-as-possible investors turn a blind eye to the unfolding disaster.
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theatlantic.com/politics/archi…
1/n
theatlantic.com/politics/archi…
The weak legislative effort to regulate groundwater -- the "Sustainable Groundwater Management Act" was a tiny step in the right direction, but prompted a race to pump even more unsustainable groundwater before it takes effect years from now. The result? ...
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Big ag is strip-mining groundwater, killing small farms & poor communities.
There is only one solution, as Arax notes: up to a million acres of farmland must come out of production, perhaps 15% of Central Valley farmland. Even the ag industry acknowledges this, in private... 3/n
There is only one solution, as Arax notes: up to a million acres of farmland must come out of production, perhaps 15% of Central Valley farmland. Even the ag industry acknowledges this, in private... 3/n
Hence the race to strip every $ of profit from the land before it goes dry -- the "hedge-fundification" of California ag. Even without worsening climate-change-induced droughts, this crisis was real. A few wet years or pie-in-the-sky reservoirs can't help. 4/4
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