Ag-Water Usage....
This discussion is getting interesting. In doing some more searching, it's becoming obvious to me that my definition of ag activities has been too narrow. Maybe the definition of ag activities in reporting contributes to that confusion. Of course, you guys who are/were growers and grew up in ag areas of this state already know this stuff.
One report of ag activities in CA for 2010-2011/2011-2012 (US Dept of Food/Ag) shows all of the standard crops and, also, includes dairies, livestock (cows, calves. hogs, sheep, lambs and aquaculture), feed lots, poultry & eggs, production of honey plus a lot more in the form of farm services; all of which use some water. As you could expect, some crops and other activities use more water than others. So, it's easy to see that efficient irrigation practices work for specific row/tree crops but some activities are just not efficient. For example, composting, dairies, feed lots that set up sprinkler systems to water cows/cow crap 24 hours a day, flood irrigation practices for certain types of crops, etc., and Flushing of salts from soils to create a "....salt balance...." making mineralized land usable for farming.
"America is a country which produces citizens who will cross the ocean to fight for democracy but won't cross the street to vote."
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