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NEWS AND VIEWS THAT IMPACT LIMITED CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT

"There is danger from all men. The only maxim of a free government ought to be to trust no man living with
power to endanger the public liberty." - - - - John Adams

Saturday, March 21, 2015

California Farmers Skip Planting, Sell Water to Desperate Cities



Where will our food come from?

  • Farmers will earn a lot more money on the fields they don’t farm, making water itself the real cash crop in California.
  • And the insanity of overpopulation goes on and on.


YUBA COUNTY (KPIX 5) – The rice industry in the Sacramento Valley is taking a hard hit with the drought. Some farmers are skipping out on their fields this year, because they are cashing in on their water rights.
Many fields will stay dry because farmers will be doing what was once considered unthinkable: selling their water to Southern California.
“In the long term, if we don’t make it available we’re afraid they’ll just take it,” said Charlie Mathews, a fourth generation rice farmer with senior rights to Yuba River water.
He and his fellow growers have agreed to sell 20 percent of their allotment to Los Angeles's Metropolitan Water District as it desperately searches to add to its dwindling supply.
California rice farmers are selling their water and not planting crops.

It’s not really surprising that Southern California is looking for a place to buy water. But what is making news is how much they’ve agreed to pay for it: $700 per acre foot of water.
Just last year, rice farmers were amazed when they were offered $500 per acre foot. This new price means growers will earn a lot more money on the fields they don’t plant, making water itself the real cash crop in California.
“It’s much more than we ever expected to get. But at the same time, that just shows the desperation of the people that need it,” Mathews said.
The ripple effect of this will be felt around the entire state. If a Bay Area water district needs to buy more water, it will now be competing with Los Angeles to do it.
“They have to pay whatever the last price, the highest price, people will pay,” Mathews said.

(San Francisco CBS News)


Water Sucking Los Angeles
Where is it written that more growth is good?
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In 1960 my California county next to L.A. had a population of  199,000.  Today it has ballooned up to 840,000 people with more coming everyday.  More and more farms are being ploughed under in order to build rows of strip malls and crappy should-to-shoulder tract housing.
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Listen to all the propaganda you want, but insane, endless population growth has not made my quality of life better,

Los Angeles in 1900
Lack of rain meant nothing back in 1900 when people farmed and raised cattle in Los Angeles. But today we eagerly import and pack in millions and millions of new water guzzling people.  Then we wonder why we are running out of water.

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