The Westlands Almond Problem

The East Bay Express gets into the weeds on almond production in the western San Joaquin Valley:

Errotabere's farm resides within the Westlands Water District, a barren landscape southwest of Fresno that gets very little rain — even in non-drought years. The average annual precipitation in the district is just eight inches, and the region suffers from poor drainage, high levels of toxic minerals in the soil, and salt-laden groundwater. "It's really an area that should have never been farmed," said Richard Walker, a retired UC Berkeley geography professor and an expert on agricultural economics.
Yet Westlands is almost all farmland, thanks to water from Northern California and the Sierra Nevada that the federal government pumps out of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta and ships south through a series of canals and aqueducts. Throughout the 20th century, this massive transfer of water turned a large section of California desert into a bountiful — and profitable — farming region....A decade ago, Westlands' major crop was cotton. But today, almonds are on their way to becoming king. Since 2000, the amount of land dedicated to growing almonds has more than doubled in the district, bringing the total to 75,000 acres. And now about one out of every ten almonds sold in the world comes from Westlands. The only crop more common in the district is tomatoes, which cover 80,000 acres.
Westlands farmers like Errotabere have shifted to growing almonds, and to a lesser extent, pistachios, because of the exploding international demand for them. California produces 80 percent of the almonds sold worldwide, with gross revenues of more than $6.2 billion in 2013 — nearly double what they were in 2009. Last year, almonds were California's most lucrative agricultural export by far. "We have good markets, and we're a global product that's extremely desired," said Richard Waycott, CEO of the California Almond Board.

According to the article, an acre of almonds requires 1.3 million gallons of water a year.  That's almost 48 inches of water in an area that gets an average of 8 inches of rain a year.  It's a shame that a lot of farmers in the region face potential financial ruin in the ongoing drought, but planting 75,000 acres of almond trees in the desert is stupid, and a terrible waste of water.  As the article states, there are numerous areas in California that can produce almonds in a much more water-ef ficient manner.  This region growing almonds is just a product of greed and terrible public policy.  Read the whole article, it is fascinating.