Donald Ulrich: Don’t presume to tell farmers what to plant
Re “How do almonds benefit society?” (Letters, April 6) and “Squandering last reliable water” (Letters, Feb. 25):
Two letters about how bad almonds are for our society were printed in The Bee recently. One suggests that wine grapes would be a better choice because they develop more jobs. How ridiculous – they also develop more drunks. The writer forgets that in our society, products are produced to satisfy market demand, not some socialistic idea that wine is better for society than almonds.
The second letter is even more ridiculous. Although it take about 1 gallon to grow an almond (depending on the irrigation system), we don’t ship a gallon of water to China when we export one almond. Some of that water goes in to the ground to help the aquifer, some goes into the air to make clouds that rain. We should realize that water does not get used up, it may be displaced but it does not disappear.
Furthermore if we don’t sell some almonds to China, who is going to make our TVs and computers?
Donald Ulrich, Denair
This story was originally published April 20, 2015 at 2:15 PM with the headline "Donald Ulrich: Don’t presume to tell farmers what to plant."