
Are Pistachios the Nut of the Future? - jelliclesfarm
https://grist.org/article/are-pistachios-the-nut-of-the-future/
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gshdg
This article is far more fascinating than the headline suggests, and discusses
a far broader range of topics than nuts. It covers a number of options we have
for continuing to grow food in California as the climate changes and aquifers
are depleted.

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jelliclesfarm
It addresses a lot of issues and problems ..many urgent..with 45 billion
dollar California Ag industry.

This is why I fret when Agtech VCs pours $$$ into the existing industry that
looks like a cash cow. But it’s a crippled cow. They will bring it all
crashing down. They are talking to corporations and not to real farmers in the
ground.

I started knocking on doors five years ago and at this point, I don’t think it
makes any difference anymore. So much VC $$$ have been pumped into California
Ag that by investing in an industry that was showing signs of a fever..they
have only to made the infection worse.

I don’t know how this can be remedied anymore. The right time was five years
ago. Hubris.

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gshdg
Agreed.

The California desert is a foolish place to be relying for agriculture,
period. That it’s been effective historically (by diverting or draining water
at higher rates than we can replenish it) is a poor reason to continue to
invest in it.

Switching to desert-native crops is a good start. (I mean, seriously, it’s
absurd for California to be our agricultural center for almonds, when each
individual almond takes a gallon of water to produce!)

For the rest, if we want to keep consuming them, perhaps we’d do better to
turn our attention to areas that have more reliable water supplies and whose
climates are or will be better suited to those crops in coming decades.

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mateo411
Why do you think the Central Valley in CA is a desert?

I agree that CA agriculture needs to be more careful with how it uses almonds,
but the Valley is not a desert, it's a great place to grow crops.

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aaron695
> Valley temperatures are predicted to rise between 3.5 and 6 degrees F by
> 2100

I think it's funny we accept we will be able to make meat in a lab in 20 years
time but not nuts.

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sollewitt
If you could plant some muscle in the ground and sprout a cow, muscle would be
also be so complex we wouldn't expect to synthesize it soon either.

