Katherine Brown of Southside Community Land Trust sent the Providential Gardener the link to a September 22, 2007, article, "Let the East Bloom Again," which argues that the Eastern United States is much more suited to agriculture than the West because of the abundance of water here. An excerpt:
...Until the middle of the 1900s, much of our country’s food and fiber was produced east of the Mississippi River. Maine led the nation in potato production in 1940, and New York wasn’t far behind. The South, including Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi, dominated cotton. Large amounts of corn were grown in almost every state for consumption by the local livestock and poultry. Regional vegetable markets, especially in the mid-Atlantic states, served the population centers of the East.
...Through irrigation, Western farmers were spared the occasional droughts that had plagued Eastern farmers, but the specialized Western system came with a price. Water projects dried up the area’s rivers. Salmon runs disappeared. Soils were poisoned from the salt in irrigated water that is left behind after evaporation....
The key is to invest in irrigation systems that make the most of the East's winter rains that currently run into the sea. Having been in Colorado recently, I can tell you that water is in short supply there and it's a contentious issue. This is an interesting article that gives broad, national, and also historical perspective to our local farming initiatives ~ well worth serious consideration. If we don't deal intelligently with the West's limitations there are consequences:
...If the United States does not expand agriculture in the East, the nation’s food production will move offshore, to developing countries that may not manage herbicides, pesticides and health safety as well as our country does.
Is this what we want?
The authors of the article are Richard T. McNider and John R. Christy, professors of atmospheric science at the University of Alabama in Huntsville. Here are some links to reports they have written:
