California
Welcome to /c/California, an online haven that brings to life the unrivaled diversity and vibrancy of California! This engaging community offers a virtual exploration of the Golden State, taking you from the stunning Pacific coastline to the rugged Sierra Nevada, and every town, city, and landmark in between. Discover California's world-class wineries, stunning national parks, innovative tech scene, robust agricultural heartland, and culturally diverse metropolises.
Discussions span a wide range of topics—from travel tips and restaurant recommendations to local politics and environmental issues. Whether you're a lifelong resident, a recent transplant, or planning your dream visit, /c/California is your one-stop place to share experiences, ask questions, and celebrate all the things that make California truly unique.
Related Communities:
Nearby Communities:
- California
- Bakersfield, CA
- Bay Area, CA
- Burbank, CA
- Fresno, CA
- Long Beach, CA
- Los Angeles, CA
- Oakland, CA
- San Diego, CA
- San Jose, CA
- San Francisco, CA
- Sacramento, CA
- Santa Clarita, CA
view the rest of the comments
I agree it’s a large portion. However, the big difference is that most dairy and meat produced in state is not exported. Water is a public resource, so it should raise additional alarms when the public is not benefiting from its use.
The meat might not be exported, but the water intensive livestock feed sure is
We should account for the water of all agricultural exports more carefully.
https://www.cdfa.ca.gov/statistics/
It kind of seems like a lot of dairy is exported. Dairy was valued at $10.4 billion, Cattle and Calves: $3.63 billion, Almonds: $3.52 billion. I mean, unless California is consuming over 70% of $14 billion in cattle and dairy products, but exporting all the almonds.
You can click the export stats. Almonds are #1 export, followed by dairy. Dairy exports were about $2B out of $10B produced. So roughly 75% of dairy is not exported.
Well, I did a little analysis and almonds sure are a consumer of water in California, but I'd encourage you to look into the water, land use and emissions impact of cattle and dairy, I know, you are worried about exporting away all your water, but there are larger impact agricultural products and you said everything should be scrutinized more, so here is more scrutiny.
tl;dr: In 2022, California used this much water on these agricultural products: Almonds: 9 billion m³ Beef: 20 billion m³ Cheese: 4.4 billion m³ Butter: 1.3 billion m³
This doesn't factor in other dairy products because the data doesn't line up well enough to compute and I'm just some internet user, so what do I know?
Anyways land use is crazy, beef alone used 1 million acres, while all other field crops used 627 thousand acres. (Source: cdfa stat review)
blue water I could drink. cows make green water available to me.
Another big difference is the $38 billion in subsidies the meat and dairy industries get from U.S. taxpayers....That should also raise alarms.