Sustainable Agriculture: Central Valley Dust Bowl, Part Two

Continued from part one

Congressman Devin Nunes (R-CA), has dedicated space on his website to the issue. He states,

In my ongoing effort to convince Congressional Democrats that Californians need relief from a government imposed dust-bowl, I have been offering amendments to a number of spending bills. These amendments have been straightforward, despite the efforts of Democratic leaders to generate controversy. If enacted, my amendments would prevent federal authorities from implementing environmental decisions that deprive Californians access to essential water supplies.

Nunes has created the "Turn on the Pumps Act" (HR 3105) which states its cause as: "To provide that operations of the Central Valley Project shall not be restricted pursuant to any biological opinion issued under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, if such restrictions would result in levels of export less than the historical maximum level of export."

If I understand it correctly, Nunes is asking for sales to trump ecology. While many of us can agree that sales and distribution of food is and should be one of the most important concerns of our legislation, also we can agree that without protection of the soil in which it is grown, the water which makes it grow and the ecology that sustains the entire process, we can't make it last. But again, the language is fairly clear: Nunes has written and/or contributed to a number of pamphlets in which he expresses with certainty his distaste for environmentalists. So my question is: where, then, does he stand on sustainable agriculture? And why should we consider his amendments to be considered if he is strictly looking after the immediate dollar and not that which provides the dollar to be made over time.

So now, a number of influences  have led up to the water restriction and the result is likely to be an increase in food prices. On one hand, Americans only pay about 30% of what Americans paid for food 100 years ago, so small increases still keep us way in the black; on the other hand, many people are already struggling with the rising cost of food since our economy has been less than perfect over the last couple years.

But the bigger problem is really a centralization of the food market. In an area that provides 1/4 of all US food markets, a drought can make a significant difference in food production, soil health, and as is evident, the water supply. The end-result monetary cost is really the least of our problems. The central valley is proving itself as a textbook case of non- sustainable agriculture.

Photo credit: Keri Marion