Drought in California could idle 78 percent of the state’s farm land yet, “A booming population and a sharp increase in lucrative crops like berries and nuts that require more water strain the system” says the New York Times. Some operators “replaced traditional crops like spinach, melons and asparagus with ones requiring more water, like avocados, nuts and berries, which command premium prices thanks to soaring demand from baby boomers and the international market. The region produces twice as many almonds, roughly two billion pounds, as it did in 2006.”
Plantings of water-intensive crops are up in the past decade – strawberries up 30 pct, almonds up 44 pct, raspberries up 80 pct and pistachios up 102 pct, says a sidebar. Tomatoes, spinach, cantalopes and asparagus, which use less water, also get less land. Strawberries require four times as much water as apples.