Of course the problem is capitalism, to be precise: the lack of a mandate to price in externalities - not just water rights, but also CO2 and other pollution, destruction of extremely large swaths of land or devastation of biodiversity by ever larger monoculture farms - into the actual sticker price of products.
Something like the alfalfa or Brazilian meat trade should be exorbitantly expensive, as should be stuff like strawberries from Morocco or cut flowers from Kenya to Europe. The emissions associated with these products are absurdly large, and yet it's cheap enough to be worthwile.
Again, none of that applies in the California alfalfa case. Senior water rights are a rent. The externalities aren’t important because if they paid a fair market value for that water, it wouldn’t be profitable to grow. Capitalism is unnecessary here; a feudal lord with the same fief on water rights would do the same, capital investment is irrelevant. The trade happens because the government granted a rent, effectively paying to make Imperial Valley farming profitable.
Look, I believe in late-stage capitalism as much as the average liberal arts professor, but it’s stupid to blame all problems on it.
Capitalism actually fixes that, Brazilian beef and argentina and paraguay for that matter too are extraordinarily cheap because tariffs make them expensive in the US / EU.
Luckily we like beef so we eat it all ourselves.
You get moral superiority we get cheap high quality meat, everyone wins.
I don't think there's much demand for South American meat here in Denmark, but vegetables and especially fruit from Africa and South America is easily affordable and available when it's not in season in Europe.
Capitalism has failed to take account of the environmental cost.
Fruits and veg are generally twice the price in the EU, stuff that is grown largely or only here is more like 4x the price in the EU. Coffee, avocados, etc.
"This would have a very negative effect on the price our producers receive, and this would discourage farmers from taking over farms," said Benoit Cassart, secretary-general of the Belgian Cattle Trade Federation.
"Premium, high-quality meat holds great value in Europe. That's not the case in China, for example. We are hopeful that the European market will open up to Brazilian meat with the finalization of the agreement," Marina told DW.
"That doesn't mean they are producing something bad. But if they must remove the Amazon rainforests to produce meat and send it to Europe, and this makes our green pasture redundant, it makes no sense at all," he told DW.
My point is Europe produces its own high-quality meat, at a price we can afford. It's not consumers pushing for this trade deal, it's the wealthy capital-owners who stand to make a large profit at the expense of the environment.
Food etc. being 2x to 4x more expensive here isn't a problem. You see from the last section of your table that salaries are 900% higher too.
Something like the alfalfa or Brazilian meat trade should be exorbitantly expensive, as should be stuff like strawberries from Morocco or cut flowers from Kenya to Europe. The emissions associated with these products are absurdly large, and yet it's cheap enough to be worthwile.