U.S. exporting water to Asia via crops
By Christi Turner, High Country News
Severe drought plagues California, the Colorado River is perilously low, and yet billions of gallons of water are being “virtually exported” via one of the West’s thirstiest crops: alfalfa.
Robert Glennon, author of “Unquenchable: America’s Water Crisis and What to Do About It”, estimates about 50 billion gallons of Western water – enough to supply 500,000 families annually – were sent to China via alfalfa in 2012. China isn’t the world’s biggest hay buyer – land-poor Japan leads, followed by the United Arab Emirates – but its hunger is rapidly growing.
Water also leaves in the form of food exports such as rice, wheat or almonds, but alfalfa stands out as a low-value forage crop, Glennon says. China’s consumption of milk and meat is skyrocketing, and it can’t feed 42 million cattle on its own.
Water is the next oil. Multinational corporations and investors (like the Bush family and Goldman-Sachs) are quietly buying up water rights all over the world.
“Whiskey is for drinking, water is for fighting over.” -Mark Twain.
How ’bout the Federal Government, dumbfounded? The two recent BLM debacles were both about land that had lots of water. The range land that Bundy was using had lots of water. The private ranch land that they’re trying to take in Texas is river frontage. And here in California, the Feds just added 3 amphibians to the Endangered Species list. Another reason to restrict land where there’s water.
Did anybody else notice that?
Dog. The article is about California Alfalfa. Since you brought it up… Bundy is a “taker” and his cows take/need lots of water daily. Texas is … well Texas.
California is in a drought and I am sure lots of wildlife will be distressed.
If you want to broaden the topic of dumb-founded, let’s talk ignition switches at GM or throttle cable at Toyota for starters; these actually killed people.
Bundy is a crook and needs to pay his fines, get his cattle off PUBLIC lands and face the judge to be convicted of his crimes against every single citizen of the USA.