How can the land be only good for rice when the crop relies so heavily on water from rivers and groundwater? The floodplain has good conditions for planting rice but requires irrigation to bring it to maturity, are there any crops better suited to these conditions? Could healthier soil and deeper roots chase the water table deeper? Maybe Fukuoka’s method would be more appropriate where the field is only flooded for 7-10 days rather than a full month and weeds are instead suppressed with straw, clover groundcover, and no-till. Like William said even with canal allocations cut large farms with deep wells will continue to drain groundwater supply, and damming the water flowing from the mountains will continue to dehydrate the central valley.
https://asmith.ucdavis.edu/news/big-drop-california-rice-acres
Preventing the planting of cotton and rice and replacing row crop/fallow rotations with tree nuts and fruits seems like a good thing in permaculture terms. Why export half the grain across the world to countries more appropriate for growing it? And wouldn’t somewhere like South Carolina be more appropriate for growing the country’s domestic supply? It’s interesting this is posted in low-tech, rice cultivation in paddies couldn’t exist like it does now without irrigation technology and earthworks.
