this post was submitted on 28 Mar 2024
126 points (98.5% liked)

United States | News & Politics

7209 readers
371 users here now

founded 4 years ago
MODERATORS
[email protected]
[email protected]
126
Hay grown for cattle consumes nearly half the water drawn from Colorado River, study finds (www.latimes.com)
submitted 7 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
14 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Archived copies of the article: ghostarchive.org archive.today

The study itself is here

top 14 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] [email protected] 14 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (4 children)

I do not understand why we don't just plant switch grass and be done with it? It's native to a large swath of the arable land, doesn't require as much (in some areas any) irrigation and it's good for the soil. https://cropwatch.unl.edu/benefits-switchgrass-hay-and-forage

https://utia.tennessee.edu/publications/wp-content/uploads/sites/269/2023/10/SP701-B.pdf

Edit: Also 6.24 is closer to a third of 19.25 than it is a half. Which is still a massive amount of water. Why inflate the numbers by saying nearly a half?

[–] [email protected] 12 points 7 months ago

What's even more frustrating is that it's not useful. Here's an article about Utah's water usage WRT alfalfa:

alfalfa and other kinds of hay sucks up 68% of the 5.1 million acre-feet of water diverted every year in Utah

...

amounts to 0.2% of the state’s annual gross domestic product

...

Almost a third of it is exported, mostly to China, taking far too much of our water with it.

So, Utah is using 2/3 of their water to produce 0.2% of their GDP and exports almost a third of it. It's completely stupid...

[–] [email protected] 4 points 7 months ago

It's because you have to use your water to keep water rights. Flood irrigating alfalfa is an easy way to use up a lot of water to keep the rights without having to manage more complex farms. The current way that water rights works creates perverse incentives.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Water which evaporates from reservoirs or wetlands isn't "drawn" from the river for human use. So it's about half of water removed for human use

[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 months ago

Thanks for the clarification!

[–] [email protected] 3 points 7 months ago

I dont understand why we dont ban cattle breeding & importing and be done with it?

[–] [email protected] 10 points 7 months ago (1 children)

I'm ready for lab grown meat farms.

No (very little) ethical implication

Scientifically tuned flavors and meat content (allergens? Vitamins?)

More focused growth, less waste

Fewer emissions

More low impact agriculture areas, more habitat for wildlife restored

Less transit costs, meat grown within the cities it's consumed in

Less antibiotic resistant bacteria

No chance of mad cow/that T disease pigs used to spread.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Or just eat plants? Its better in everything you just said, but moreso

[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago

I've yet to find a plant substitute for every flavor and texture that I might want to consume, variety is the spice of life. We could all eat Soylent or jelly fish, and if that was all we had let's chow down! I eat vegetables as much as I enjoy to, and I eat other things in the same moderation. I don't eat things that are trying to imitate other things, I nearly always prefer the original to the imitation (I appreciate that some people don't want the original, or cannot have the original, so I've never talked against those products existing), plants do not have the same texture, nor cook the same way, as meats, it doesn't happen. I'm not against progress and I appreciate the ethical (and sometimes biological) argument against modern farming, but I would try to dissuade you against turning perfect into the enemy of better.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Them: Let’s stop climate change!

Me: Great! Eat less meat!

Them: . . . visibly upset Noooooooooooo

[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 months ago

Its necessary, not sufficient.

The same is true for stopping all internal combustion engines in yard maintenance. Its necessary, its not (alone) sufficient.

We need to do all of these things.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 months ago

What a waste. A lot of gray water would probably be fine for growing hay.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 7 months ago

The obvious solution is to bring back Swill Milk,