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Should We Be Farming in the Desert?

Civil Eats

Yet carrots, cauliflower, sweet onions, honeydew, broccoli, and alfalfa all grow here, incongruous crops that spread across half a million acres of cultivated land. Ronald Leimgruber farms 3,500 of those acres. Through a pilot program, MWD pays the farmers leasing the land and the tribe up to $473 per acre.

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How Centuries of Extractive Agriculture Helped Set the Stage for the Maui Fires

Civil Eats

The catastrophic fire that just ravaged more than 2,000 acres and at least 2,000 homes on Maui, and claimed 114 lives and counting is inextricably linked to the island’s agricultural history. As workers slowly gained rights, profits plummeted, and Brazil and India became competitors of cheap sugar production.

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Colorado’s Groundwater Experiment

Civil Eats

But the valley’s irrigation outlook is dire: Water withdrawn by wells exceeds the amount of snowmelt refilling aquifers, and there are more claims to water rights than there is water in streams. But applying the same approach to water is tricky. The expanse is among the most densely irrigated regions on Earth.

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JD Vance Funded AcreTrader. Here’s Why That Matters.

Civil Eats

Its current offerings include 83 acres of almond trees in the San Joaquin Valley, advertised as “an opportunity to invest in a water-secure almond orchard in the world’s most productive almond-producing region.” That’s the promise that AcreTrader , a company with the mission of simplifying investing in valuable U.S. food system.

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