[Vision2020] Palouse Farming: was Hemp...

[Donovan Arnold]

". . . it seems that since water is the limiting factor,
it makes sense to use that water wisely. Since we all need to eat, I'd
rather use that water to grow food than using it for the Hawkins
mega-mall..." Garrett C. 

Humm, the problem here is if you get a plague, a virus, or rats in your crops everyone starves. You also have a huge unemployment line because not everyone can farm and you only need 5% of the population to feed the rest of the population. 

I would suggest you keep farming, but also employ the manager, the builder, the merchant, the cashier, the salesman, the banker, the clerk, the stacker, the cook, the waitress, and the advertiser by having a mall to sell the food you grow and other items the community needs. 

Best Regards,

Donovan

--- On Tue, 3/3/09, Garrett Clevenger <garrettmc at verizon.net> wrote:
From: Garrett Clevenger <garrettmc at verizon.net>
Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Palouse Farming: was Hemp...
To: vision2020 at moscow.com, "Ellen Roskovich" <gussie443 at hotmail.com>
Date: Tuesday, March 3, 2009, 6:42 PM

Ellen writes:

"I thought all the farmers around here relied on rainfall and snowpack for
moisture."


Most farmers around here are dryland farmers because we have enough annual
precipitation, so they don't need supplemental water to grow wheat, barley,
peas and lentils, though they probably would get higher yields if more water
were added.

I have a vegetable farm in Moscow, which requires irrigation. Our well is about
60 feet deep, so more than likely it is water that is replenished each year by
rain and snowpack. I consider that a more sustainable use of water than that
which will be sold to Hawkins, which from what I know is drawn from the deeper
aquifer, which is not replenished much.

If we could grow hemp here, we'd probably have to irrigate. But then again,
most farms that grow our food rely on irrigation systems, particularly in the
desert regions of south Idaho, and the Columbia basin in Washington.

If anybody wants to read a good book on the history of reliance on federal
subsidies to develop irrigation districts in our country (of which there are
probably more than most people realize), check out "Cadilac Desert" by
Marc Reisner. Pretty much no matter what, irrigation is crucial to farmimg, and
tax-payers have built those systems. Add that on top of the ecological
consequences of water diversion (and transportation and pesticide use!) and
it's obvious what we pay for food at the store is a lot less than its true
cost.

The Palouse is lucky to have enough precip to grow crops dryland, but then
again, most of the wheat is exported, and that doesn't provide us
vegetables. If you eat meat, you need water to care for livestock, too.

So it seems to me, if you like a diverse diet, it's better to grow that
food locally to reduce the other impacts transporting food long distances
causes. That being the case, it seems that since water is the limiting factor,
it makes sense to use that water wisely. Since we all need to eat, I'd
rather use that water to grow food than using it for the Hawkins mega-mall...

gclev

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