if you’re a smart farmer, you’re trying to maximize your yield. Perhaps you have invested in an orchard. Drought year arrives, you do what you can to keep your trees alive (be they almond, stone fruit, orange, whatever).

As a CA resident who drives down I-5, I’ve seen crops being replaced. I’ve seen orchards that get bulldozed. I’ve seen the farmer propaganda. I’ve seen the almonds being harvested.

I can’t blame them, they’re trying to keep the land productive. They’re making guesses about the future. Once they’ve made a choice, they have a big incentive to make it work. But they’re certainly not making choices that are optimal for the community.