Agriculture Industy Crucial to Solving CA's Water Crisis

by Alexandra Lee

According to this chart from wwf.panda.org, agriculture uses

the majority of water in almost every sector in the world.

As it is well known, our state of California is facing a major ongoing drought that has had consequences for millions of people living inside and outside its borders. With the drier climate comes less rain and snowfall, so there has been an extreme shortage of water in a time when it seems like we need ever-more of it. Water has endless uses, from running in our sinks to providing the means for our food to grow, and having less of this invaluable resource impacts all of us. The largest user of California’s developed water is the agriculture business, but it also seems to be one of the biggest wasters of our precious supply.

California’s agriculture industry is the largest in the country, and it feeds millions of Americans with its wide variety of crops and produce. Needless to say, this agricultural industry, nicknamed the “breadbasket of America,” is essential in making our country run and fuels people in their everyday. However, the unfortunate side of California’s agriculture system is that it uses up about 80% of our water - and wastes a substantial amount of it.

It’s understandable that the agriculture industry needs so much water, as all crops need water to grow and they are produced in vast quantities to be shipped throughout the rest of the country. However, significant amounts of water used in the industry are unintentionally wasted, adding to our ever-growing crisis. This is mainly due to a lack of sustainable agriculture, which includes inefficient irrigation systems and the cultivation of thirsty, foreign crops.

One way that the agriculture system could improve its wasteful watering systems is to take out old, inefficient modes of mass water distribution and replace them with better options, such as drip-irrigation systems. These systems use small amounts of water, remain intact for years, and deliver water right to the root of the plant as to reduce the amount of water used to grow plants. Old systems, such as irrigation ditches and sprinklers, use up large quantities of water and allow some of it to evaporate or be lost to the wind before ever reaching the plants. Therefore, systems such as drip-irrigation are a much better option for farmers and for California, as they conserve water and save money.

Farmers could also cut back on growing extremely water-thirsty crops such as walnuts, cotton, sugar, and rice to conserve more water - or up the prices on these items. Just one walnut takes about 5 gallons of water to grow, and just one head of broccoli uses almost 5.5 gallons. While foods such as these can be popular on the market, they are greatly worsening the issue of water in California, and there should be raised prices on them in order to conserve more water for our state. However, some farmers are taking steps to having more sustainable farms.

Another part of the agriculture industry that uses enormous amounts of water is the meat packing industry. Few people seem to be aware of the amount of water that goes into producing the food they eat, let alone the meat they eat. The average American eats about 167 pounds of meat each year, according to gracelinks.org. It takes about 1,800 to 2,400 gallons of water to produce one pound of meat. And, there are around 320 million Americans. So, this all means that it takes about 96 trillion gallons of water to feed Americans their meat each year. Keep in mind, this is only one part of the agricultural industry - take into account all of the water used to grow crops in the Central Valley, and the agriculture industry is using incredible amounts of water, some of which is wasted or isn't necessary in the first place. A solution to the amount of water used up on our meat could be to raise prices, just as with the produce mentioned before. At McDonald’s, it currently costs $3.79 to buy a quarter-pounder burger with cheese. Divide 1,800 gallons of water by 4, and that patty used at least 450 gallons of water to produce - and cost less than $4. According to Business Insider, bottled water costs an average of $1.22 per gallon, so if somebody were to buy the 450 gallons of water used to produce one quarter-pound burger, it would cost them $549. This huge gap between prices means that many people aren’t considering the amazing amounts of water that is indirectly used to produce their food.

There are several issues surrounding the usage of California’s scarce water, but the agricultural industry is surely one participant in worsening the situation. There are many ways that the industry could improve its water-swallowing methods in order to conserve more for our state, and they should start with converting to more efficient irrigation systems and converting to less thirsty crops. Also, Americans can work together to reduce their meat intake, or prices can be raised on the cheap meat that’s readily available to consumers. While the agricultural industry is not to blame for the ongoing drought or shortage of water, it can surely cut back its impact on the California water crisis.