In California we are not only up a creek without a paddle but up a dry creek without a plan. That is unless not being served water in restaurant without requesting it and cutting back a bit on watering the lawn can be called a plan. I wrote this a few days ago and things have changed since then. But are those changes enough?
There are 38 million people in California. It has the largest economy within the U.S., 8th largest in the world.
While agriculture represents less than 2% of the state's GSP it accounts for 13% all U.S. agricultural sales and a much higher percentage of fruits and vegetables as well as being the top milk producer and in the top 5 or higher for most other animal products. Apologies for the squiggly columns but my attempts to straighten them failed.
California's top-ten valued commodities for 2013 are:
Milk — $7.6 billion
Almonds — $5.8 billion
Grapes — $5.6 billion
Cattle, Calves — $3.05 billion
Strawberries — $2.2 billion
Walnuts — $1.8 billion
Lettuce — $1.7 billion
Hay — $1.6 billion
Tomatoes — $1.2 billion
Nursery plants— $1.2 billion
http://www.cdfa.ca.gov/...
Data summary
Typical values for the volume of water required to produce common foodstuffs:
Foodstuff Quantity Water consumption, litres
Chocolate 1 kg 17,196
Beef 1 kg 15,415
Sheep Meat 1 kg 10,412
Pork 1 kg 5,988
Butter 1 kg 5,553
Chicken meat 1 kg 4,325
Cheese 1 kg 3,178
Olives 1 kg 3,025
Rice 1 kg 2,497
Cotton 1 @ 250g 2,495
Pasta (dry) 1 kg 1,849
Bread 1 kg 1,608
Pizza 1 unit 1,239
Apple 1 kg 822
Banana 1 kg 790
Potatoes 1 kg 287
Milk 1 x 250ml glass 255
Cabbage 1 kg 237
Tomato 1 kg 214
Egg 1 196
Wine 1 x 250ml glass 109
Beer 1 x 250ml glass 74
Tea 1 x 250 ml cup 27
The Guardian