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Like other posters said wetter isn't better. Avocados for example like no wind, no frost, and very little humidity California is a great place to grow Avocados. Almonds grow the best in warm temps, and wet winters like California.
The one thing I think is crazy that California should probably not have In terms of land use and water consumption are huge mega dairy farms with 30,000 cows a farm. Dairy cows use crazy amounts of water and I think it's crazy the state allows these mega dairy farms to continue.
I am glad each state kind of has it's own commodity in agriculture, California has it's avocados and almonds, Iowa has it's swine and corn, Florida has it's oranges, Wisconsin it's cheese production, Georgia it's peaches, Idaho has it's potatoes. Those things help each economy in each state. I know for a fact Wisconsin's biggest economic producer is dairy the same with Idaho and it's potatoes.
This is because of the land, Wisconsin grows corn, and soybeans really well so naturally we have more cows. Idaho has perfect soil for potatoes, Maine has perfect soil for blueberries, California has perfect soil for Almonds there is a reason why some plants and animals dominate in certain areas of the country.
The docu Water and Power makes California look like it grows everything and 90% or something of all domestic USA food supply.
Nj brazen there is a multi quote function in the bottom right of each post where you can click as many posts in a row that you want to respond to and then hit quote on the last one and you can respond to all at once so you don't have to wait 60 seconds in between each post to reply
And California does not provide all the food. California provides fruit and vegetables. Other states provide the grain that we eat and the cattle and hogs for meat.
Rice is a grain, and White Basmati rice from California (Lundberg brand was tested) has significantly less arsenic than all other rice grown in the United States. So does sushi rice from California.
Why do we get so much of our food from California when there are more places that are simply wetter and is better for agriculture?
Sorry, I am watching Water and Power again, and they mention USA gets huge percentage of its food from the State of California and how California is biggest food producer of all time. Basically it is hyping up CA as a huge agriculture giant.
But why? They had to build this giant irrigation system, and have to keep drilling for water. There are other states with more water that is easier to access.
Why is the agriculture not more productive there than in California? Are there no producers in other states? Why all the producers choose California? It must be the weather.
Start a farm somewhere. If CA is really a bad place for farming you should be able to beat them out.
My food consists of Wheat, Rice, Eggs, Chicken, Fish, Beans, Oil, Milk, Potatoes, Cabbage, Okra. I am not sure how many of these ites are produced in California so that other states are dependent on it.
This is all false misinformation to prop up CA agriculture industry. The real reason is that CA is closer to the ports and population density. It started out when the gold rush was over and people settled and turned to farming and eventually into the agriculture industry that provides commerce internationally.
Anyone that says CA gets more sun is just false. Anywhere closest to the equator gets the most sun and humidity that is ideal for rice. Rainforest climate is ideal for rice crops. CA is a desert valley, it imports more water than it gets except for the recent downpours. How is that suitable for agriculture? It is unsustainable in the long run.
There are plenty of farming in the heartland of America the problem is there's a lack of infrastructure and lesser investment to expand the farming industry. You look at what CA is growing then look at what's growing in the heart of America. It's completely different because there's more diversity in CA and demand of variation of crops by international customers.
.........I just thought with our tech, and right fertilizer, we can make anything grow in any temperate zone.
It's absolutely true that you can make anything grow anywhere in the world with technology. You can probably make anything you want grow in outer space if you are willing to spend enough money to create the correct environment.
However, it is much cheaper to bring in water than it is to provide heat or sunshine or the correct soil. Or in the case of some plants, pay for refrigeration to get the correct number of chill hours.
You can grow avocados in Siberia if you want to spend enough money to build greenhouses 40 feet tall, heat them to 80 degrees 24 hours a day, and provide massive correct spectrum grow lights. It's cheaper, however, if you want avocados in Siberia to import the avocados from Florida or Chile where avocado trees like the living conditions.
There is a healthy niche production of tomatoes in Canada, where the tomatoes are grown in big concrete buildings, hydroponically with all light, heat, and nutrient provided for them. They grow some nice tomatoes, but it only works because they get super high premium prices for the tomatoes because they can sell them out of season. Production is limited because there aren't that many people willing to pay $5 a pound for fresh tomatoes.
I sure hope some of you realize that dent corn (field corn) and sweet corn are completely different crops.
Very true. 99% of Americans just don't know this unfortunately, especially those living in cities far from where their food is produced
FWIW, IL alone produces more field corn than the entire US market for sweet corn. The big money is in the plain stuff
cheers
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