Most of the western U.S. is entering another year of drought. Many California reservoirs are below 50% capacity and water allocations are being limited to local irrigation districts, which means less water for irrigating crops. The pumping of groundwater is causing some areas of California to sink as the aquifers are being depleted. Rangeland, dependent on winter rainfall for grazing livestock is not available and the need for supplemental feeding becomes necessary, such as hay and feed grains, which cost more. The eastern part of the U.S. is at the mercy of extreme weather events, such as tornadoes, flooding, hail storms, and hurricanes causing damage to crops. Each year more farms and ranches are going out of business due to weather events, crop failures, and expenses exceeding income. This will only increase the price of food at the markets and some items will no longer be available.
This is also a worldwide problem leading to mass migration, starvation, and civil unrest.
Except for a few drops of rain, this morning the first week of April 2021 has been the driest I have seen since recording daily precipitation since 2008 at our place. The long-range forecast is not good.
Yes, our friend, Mark Eason, in Yew Creek is very concerned about how dry it is and we are all worried about the fire season this year after the devastating fires last year.
ReplyDeleteI heard the irrigators in the Owyhee have already had their water but by 25% this year and it is just the very beginning of the season.
ReplyDeleteI heard the irrigators in the Owyhee have already had their water but by 25% this year and it is just the very beginning of the season.
ReplyDelete