That was the tag line in a short article found in the Kingston Daily freeman this week.
“ Consumers may pay more for spring lettuce and summer melons.. now that California farmers have started abandoning their fields in response to a crippling drought.”
I learned that most of the county’s summer supply of fruits and veggies come from the Central Valley in California, and thought to my self, - better get that plot started for my own back yard lettuce. I paid 1.89 for ice berg yesterday at Adams.
Some of the problem is attributed to the worst drought in two decades.
However, as a read through the article, I read, “ While dry weather has exacerbated the problem, farmers’ water woes are not all drought related. “
“Supplies for crops and cities also have been restricted by several court decisions cutting back allocations that flow through a freshwater estuary called the Sacramento – San Joaquin Delta, the main conduit that sends water to nearly two thirds of Californians.
Environmental groups and federal scientists say the delta’s massive pumps are one of the factors pushing a native fish to the brink of extinction. Last year, FEDERAL water deliveries were just 40 % of the normal allocations, fallowing hundreds of thousands of acres causing nearly $309 million in crop losses state wide.”
Can we relocate the native fish? The drought solution is to pump in water, and now the water is cut off to protect a native species. I’m going to buy topsoil as soon as the snow clears. What do you think?
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