As California hyperventilates about drought, economist Jeff Michael offered up some optimistic statistics last week: In the midst of last year's epic drought conditions, agricultural employment in the Central Valley's three hardest hit counties went up. It didn't get nearly as much attention as the latest abysmal snowpack numbers or the pending extinction of the delta smelt, but maybe it should. Snowpack is a measure of how much water we've got, while agricultural employment is a measure of what we do with it. It's not the whole story, but it's a key part of it. If drought matters because of its impact on human communities, this second set of data seems like it ought to get some attention too. What it suggests, Michael argues, is that farmers are adapting to drought with shifts in their operations that are softening the disruptions. The disruptions are still there, but may not be as apocalyptic as the hyperventilation would suggest. His ideas are worth a click.
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