"Willi" wrote



I know this is more than you asked but this is definitely one of my
"issues".

Willi



All very interesting, imo


Two of my property borders are open canals and I know exactly what you mean.
They spent weeks patching one this summer which worked out well for me in
that they put in three new gates and some new fences in return for my
allowing them to access via my place instead of their normal easement.
Before the patch it leaked nearly as much as it delivered.

We are flood irrigation, which is exactly what it sounds like ... the whole
place looks like a shallow lake just after each cycle. It appears to be
and is a inefficient way to water, but a cheap one and almost all of Calif
ag is using it. Just better distribution of water to current customers
for current uses would be a huge improvement, that is obvious.

I'm not really in rice country, but we do have rice growing near here.
All summer it stands in knee deep water and enough must evaporate to
service many cities. Then it is harvested and the government pays the
farmer for raising it. ( At least this was true a few years back when I
investigated ... there was no real market for the rice, just government
subsidy ) "Rice ground" is very similar to water rights in Calif. I
came very close to buying 40 acres of it once to turn into dog training
ponds/ private duck hunting. Turns out that IF you don't grow your rice
for a given year you lose the right to subsidies. If I had made those
ponds I would not have been able to turn the land back to rice growing to
sell it at my retirement and such dirt has little value other than for rice.

Ag has far more power in the West than is reasonable .... and let's not kid
ourselves, modern agriculture has little, if anything, to do with "family
farms" it is big business and it buys "your" politicians just like the oil
and drug companies do.