http://dailyoftheday.com/ecology-of-the-day-the-drought-in-the-western-us/
The western US – California especially – has been suffering a drought for several years now. Even though these states are largely desert terrain anyway, lots of water is imported from other states for irrigation and agriculture. Many food growers have become increasingly worried about where they will get water for their crops.
It turns out that federal government subsidies are playing an important role in the lack of water available in these states – subsidies that can be traced back all the way to the Civil War. Specifically,
federal subsidies for cotton.
Cotton is typically grown in warm, moist climates – southern states like Georgia. However, during the Civil War, blockades of the southern states prevented them from exporting goods, so to compensate, cotton farmers were encouraged to move to states like Arizona, which had plenty of land and not many people. There was plenty of groundwater in aquifers at the time, and it seemed reasonable. And with government incentives to grow, there was hardly a downside.
Since then, subsidies and incentives for cotton growers have continued or expanded; however, the land has been unable to continue its support. Cotton requires roughly six times more water than most agricultural food crops. That means that 150 years after the Civil War, we are still trying to grow one of the thirstiest crops in one of the driest climates. What’s more, demand for cotton has plummeted in recent years.
The farmers there know it’s a terrible idea, and many would love to quit and change to different crops. However, the government subsidies make growing cotton in this area the only financially safe choice. They are guaranteed enough money to survive regardless of what happens as long as they continue to grow cotton. If they switch to crops that are more environmentally responsible and beneficial, they lose the high subsidies and risk bankruptcy.
As a result, reservoirs all over the region are drying up due to extended lack of rainfall and overuse of water – in this case, for seemingly unnecessary crops. And there are lots of questions – especially among farmers – about how the government is going to address these issues.
