Arizona farmers forced to adapt as main water source dries up - PBS NewsHour

[Rhiannon12866]

Yuma County, Arizona, is known as the "Winter Salad Bowl Capital." From lettuce to cilantro to broccoli, the region produces almost all the leafy green vegetables consumed in the U.S. during winter months. Farmers there rely on the nearby Colorado River and as the West contends with drought and a changing climate, they've had to adapt. Stephanie Sy reports. - Aired on 12/16/2024.

[StarryNite]

1. And what happens when most of the workers are deported?

The orange POS is going to make sure things go from bad to worse on every level.

[Rhiannon12866]

2. Good point and you're right - lettuce will become a precious and rare commodity

[rpannier]

3. Self-inflicted wounds

Yuma is very Republikkan

[not fooled]

4. I just got out of there

earlier this year...a dingy, drab, miserable fourth-rate armpit of a town.

One significant aspect missing from this story is that the winter vegetable season has been moved forward ABOUT A MONTH because of persistent warm weather now. Nevertheless, I don't think I met a single person there who believed in man-made climate change. Bunch of LDS, other religious wackos, dyed-in-the-wool pukes, and vacuous ignoramuses. What a place.

[Crowman2009]

6. Never met any mormons while I was stationed there.

Since I was a white protestant, my only interactions were with Mexican-Americans, native Americans, a few black people, and other non-mormon white people. Why they don't have a Hispanic mayor since they are 60+% of the population is beyond me. Of course Raúl M. Grijalva was the us rep. back then.

[not fooled]

7. Hispanics don't pay attention to politics and don't vote

in numbers proportional to their share of the population is my suspicion.

Yuma has no effective coverage of local politics--the newspaper is now a hollowed-out, hedge fund-owned shell of its former self, and the local teevee station is a joke. No one will touch the local entrenched power structure. The population is uninformed, apathetic, ignorant, and cowed. That's a recipe for major corruption and self-dealing among politicians there (I dealt with the Board of Supervisors over a zoning matter and saw all of this up close and personal). The politicians are literally untouchable unless the FBI came in from the outside, and that ain't gonna happen. Also, among Hispanics I dealt with, I saw a lot of fatalism and acceptance of the patronage system and kowtowing to "patrons," or wealthy families and leaders, probably from the influence of Mexican political culture.

The original whites who stole land there from the indigenous residents included LDS, going back to the mid-nineteenth century. They are all over that part of AZ and include many families which represent significant generational wealth and political power. Lots of LDS politicians and judges in Yuma. Several LDS families lived in my neighborhood, and I also crossed paths with them quite a bit among the professional classes--the three dentists and a veterinarian I saw while living there were all LDS--they go into the medical professions for the $$$.

[Crowman2009]

8. I forgot to mention that I mainly hanged out at bars, strip clubs, restaurants that served spicy food w/cerveza, ...

...bookstores that sold porn mags, and the Bargain Box. All places which are pretty much forbidden to LDS members.

[not fooled]

9. Hahahahahahahahaha

You saw the best of Yuma!

Don't be so sure there weren't LDS in those establishments--I heard from a longtime private car driver that he drove girls ("escorts" ) to assignations with many of the most officially conservative stalwarts in the community, including LDS.

[Crowman2009]

10. Well those are the locations in town most popular with Marines & Sailors stationed at MCAS Yuma.

Mainly because the PX didn't have much in the way of adult reading material (wink, wink), the E-club was limited in their beer & liquor selection, and the chow hall sucked.

[Old Crank]

5. Growing in a desert

From an over taxed water system.
What could go wrong?
Oh! Drought.....

Trump needs to round up the people and CEOs of the farms hiring undocumented workers first.