The recent drought affecting the US state of California is likely to have an impact on the US food supply, as this news article illustrates:
Walk into any grocery store in America and there’s a good chance the fresh produce you see there was grown in California. Up to half of the nation’s fruit, nuts and vegetables are grown in the Central Valley, one of the planet’s most fertile growing regions, between Los Angeles and Sacramento.
Now, for the first time this century, the entire state is in severe to exceptional drought.
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Errotabere says his farm is in uncharted territory and on the verge of catastrophe. Thirty percent of his fields have been fallowed this year, and if these conditions continue, more growing operations could be shut down.
“If we have one more year like we had these past two years, it’s going to be devastating out here. … We’ll probably have 60 to 65 percent of our production out next year.”
The consequences are staggering near towns like Mendota. Dried-up fields blow dust into the sky. River beds and canals, once full of water, are now full of dead weeds and rattlesnakes. Fruit orchards along Interstate 5 look like burned piles of firewood. Workers who used to make a living picking fruit and working machinery now stand in government supported food lines to feed their families. No water means no jobs.
To read more about the changing world and what you can do to prepare, visit: www.greatwavesofchange.org
