Drought

In the Times this morning there were two grim articles about drought and its effect on agriculture - one about "the worst drought in 50 years" in Argentina, and one about California, the drought there, and the very low level of the state and federal reservoirs, which means farmers will have little or no water available to them from these sources. We know things are so bad in Australia that some areas may never recover, though I have no idea if this includes any wine country. I'd imagine that growing grapes requires less water than many kinds of agriculture, but I'm curious if any of you know what effect these drought conditions are having on the wine industry in these places, and what other wine growing areas are suffering as well. We live in frightening times. Though the financial crisis gets the headlines, these kinds of stories don't bode well for the future.

Drought is always a serious problem, and it's very serious in the wine growing regions. Especially so in those regions where it is warm (most new world areas) and where their is insufficient natural rainfall. Also where irrigation has accustomed plantsto certain amouns of water each year.

Australia was inflicted, to various degress in various wine regions, with at least five years of drought, with the cumulative effect being up to 70% crop loss at times. Severly impacted their prime business, which was delivering indiscriminate bulk wines at super-low prices. The drought is driving down volume and driving up prices, and changing the way the Aussies 'go to market'.

In California the drought gives us two major problems: irrigation for growth, and water availability to combat frost in springtime (the basic protection system against frost is overhead sprinklers). Both are potentially serious, since drought periods are usually associated with markedly more severe weather patterns.

The one primary and essential problem of the entire western half of the USA is that of water. As population growth required more water, it puts a greater burden on agricultural use of water. There's almost never enough water in the western US---it's basically a large system of water-poor areas dependent upon limited resources. If that water that is normally used for irrigation purposes is suddenly not there---well, you can write off the Central Valley of California. Okay, wine geeks might not consider that a great loss, but how about the entire Eastern Washington vine growing region? Monterey---for both wine and the myriad of food crops grown there. Central Coast?

I always find this subject very interesting. Western Canada has seen some serious dry spells and many lakes are drying up but overall we seem to have a plentiful supply of water. Just look at the local rivers here, no wonder our friends from the south would like to talk to us about water supply!
Birdwatching in S Alberta, it always amazes me that DU can find water from somewhere for their wetland projects.

[James Roscoe]

Hoke, is it not true that if we write off the Central Valley, we have bigger problems than wine? I am under the impression that a lot of America's agricultural products are grown there. Am I correct?

You're correct about the Central Valley, James. It's one of the world's major agricultural areas and it's mostly dependent on irrigation. Agriculture uses about 90% of the water from the various dams and canals in California.

John

I believe Mendoza should be relatively unaffected by drought because the vineyard irrigation comes from ice melting from the Andes. And in Brazil, the problem has been too much rain. The world is topsy turvy.

I believe Mendoza should be relatively unaffected by drought because the vineyard irrigation comes from ice melting from the Andes. And in Brazil, the problem has been too much rain. The world is topsy turvy.

Are there not the seeds of future trade here? Transcontinental aqueducts similar to transcontinental oil and gas pipelines.

However, regional jealousies would have to be overcome. I believe that, nearer home, the Spanish government is running into trouble in its plans to pipe Catalan water to drier areas further south.

Some experts think that there may future wars about access to water which is becoming a limited resource on this planet.

Here are two links to articles I found about the effects of the drought in Australia on the wine industry, and they make for very sobering reading (pun intended).
http://www.ozwinereview.com/2009/02/dro ... me-to.html
http://www.reuters.com/article/inDepthN ... 0220070905
The article in the Times I mentioned said that there would be little or no water available from federal sources, and severely limited supplies from state sources. Speculation about water wars is not far-fetched in my view.
Hoke, what portion of the vineyards on the west coast of the US irrigate, and of those, what portion depend on state or federal sources?

[James Roscoe]

However, regional jealousies would have to be overcome. I believe that, nearer home, the Spanish government is running into trouble in its plans to pipe Catalan water to drier areas further south.

Some experts think that there may future wars about access to water which is becoming a limited resource on this planet.

A good bit of the world's fresh water supply is stocked up between Canada and the U.S. in the Great Lakes. This could be a future problem. However as both Canada and the U.S. rely on California for fresh food, I suspect we will work it out. However, I am pretty sure there have already been some problems.

If you will all pardon the theatricality, this slideshow (I could only find it in youtube video format) a few years ago at least had the effect of making me wake up to how serious the potential problem might be. Nothing like threatening your child to make you stand up and listen...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pvUxiQAVC4

Hoke, is it not true that if we write off the Central Valley, we have bigger problems than wine? I am under the impression that a lot of America's agricultural products are grown there. Am I correct?

I'm not implying that the above is a good thing, but events like this may give some impetus to 'locavore' agriculture where our food would come from sources closer to where we live. Benefits might be less fuel consumption, both in production (techniques might be lest intensive) and in transport, the stimulation of the economy in former agricultural areas and the quality of truly ripe, locally grown products.

Some of the Australian drought effects have been counter-intuitive: Australian farmers who once grew rice have switched to wine grapes, because grapes are less water-intensive.

As Australia Dries...

Though the financial crisis gets the headlines, these kinds of stories don't bode well for the future.

Bob, do you sometimes give some thought to what will happen to people, never mind wine, with populations doubling in countries, from every 20 years in Nigeria, to maybe 80 years in the US, while water source remain the same, or in even shorter original supply?

Though the financial crisis gets the headlines, these kinds of stories don't bode well for the future.

Bob, do you sometimes give some thought to what will happen to people, never mind wine, with populations doubling in countries, from every 20 years in Nigeria, to maybe 80 years in the US, while water source remain the same, or in even shorter original supply?

Yes Covert, I do. It's not an appropriate topic for this forum except in a limited way, but it amazes me that some years ago people talked about overpopulation as a huge problem and then it just seemed to go away. Surely it's obvious that many of our problems, especially environmental ones, are due to the fact that there are just too many people on the earth. The future right now, even short term, seems like something out of a science fiction novel. We live in interesting times.

Though the financial crisis gets the headlines, these kinds of stories don't bode well for the future.

Bob, do you sometimes give some thought to what will happen to people, never mind wine, with populations doubling in countries, from every 20 years in Nigeria, to maybe 80 years in the US, while water source remain the same, or in even shorter original supply?

Yes Covert, I do. It's not an appropriate topic for this forum except in a limited way, but it amazes me that some years ago people talked about overpopulation as a huge problem and then it just seemed to go away. Surely it's obvious that many of our problems, especially environmental ones, are due to the fact that there are just too many people on the earth. The future right now, even short term, seems like something out of a science fiction novel. We live in interesting times.

It won't touch me, other than aesthetically. I am old, have a lake camp in the wilderness, and leave no progeny, thank the God in me who saw this coming many years ago. The fact that it came and went, like you say, with Ehrlich, assured everyone that it was okay. I talk about it all the time because it is so huge and the entire world seems to be in total denial about it. That's the science fiction aspect to me. It does my heart good just to know that there are a handful of people who get it. That's why I stagger around, in the light of day, where such dark thoughts are totally inappropriate, with my little lantern. Thanks.