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Comment by makerofspoons | Hacker News Reader

And those pistachio trees use a whopping 57 gallons of water a day in early July: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2015/4/6/1376064/-The-Nut-A...

And we grow them in the desert of all places.

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Whenever I see things like this, I wonder why are they talking about gallons per nut or tree or whatever? Shouldn't it be relative to how many grams protein/fat/carbs it produces per gallon compared to other food sources?

>Whenever I see things like this, I wonder why are they talking about gallons per nut or tree or whatever?

Because most people can relate to gallons and water rights are measured in terms of liquid volume. In a drought-prone area having a conversation about where the water is going is discussed in those terms instead of how many grams protein/fat/carbs it produces per gallon compared to other food sources.

But its not a useful metric if you are not comparing against other food sources on an equal basis.

Sure if you're going to argue efficiency of gallons to calories, but it misses the point. Agricultural water use in California is extremely wasteful because of decades old water sharing and pricing agreements. Talking about curbing those inefficient and wasteful uses is more important because farmers need to pay fair and reasonable prices for water first. Once that happens they'll decide on their own the most effective use of the water they have.

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