Signs, signs, everywhere are signs

Mr. Sinks, I believe you hit upon the reason for growing almond trees – they’re high profit. If a crop isn’t profitable, I’m sore no farmer would bother growing it. As for water, as soon as the state does its fair share and shares the 50% of water flowing out to sea, we’d all be better off and perhaps those signs would disappear.

Good morning, Gus

I grew up in the Central Valley but now live in the Bay Area. I made that same trip almost monthly in about a ten-year period (until my mother passed away a couple of years ago). While you were shocked to see midday water spraying along the I-5 corridor, in my experience, that was not a common occurrence.

When I was a kid, I remember most crops were irrigated with the old “flood and furrow” method. Thankfully, more crops are now irrigated with spraying. The other good news is that hanging pipes irrigation configurations are much more efficient than spraying. While you are correct in stating drip irrigation is more efficient than spraying, it’s probably better suited for perennials and shrubs instead of large-scale crop production across the Central Valley’s 20,000 square miles. I looked for data supporting your claim that drip irrigation is one thousand times more efficient than spraying but could not find one. Do you have a source?

It's about more than just nuts. The Central Valley uses about 1% of the nation’s farmland to grow more than 250 different crops. Those crops provide about 25% of the country’s food. I’m sure we can agree that even if we didn’t live in a region susceptible to droughts, we should use our water resources efficiently. Maybe that’s why landowners and farmers post signs critical of our past and present governors. Water is more precious than gold, and wisely building more dams is an important part of managing our water supplies. I guess the Central Valley’s landowners and farmers don’t see that happening. You suggested growing the right crops in the right place as an alternative. I’m sure that approach can be folded into a more comprehensive state water management program. Which crops would you plant and where?