• RidderSport@feddit.org
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    3 days ago

    Funnily enough, the cities don’t actually use all that much water from what I gathered. Farming water intensive animal feed is what is responsible for thr vast majority of spent water

    • Earthwormjim91@lemmy.world
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      3 days ago

      The worst part is that a LOT of that feed doesn’t even go to animals in the US. A ton of the alfalfa gets exported for dairy cattle in places like China. 2.13 million metric tonnes a year recently, slightly down from the peak of 2.88 million metric tonnes in 2022.

      31% of hay in the western US is exported, while only 3% of the total national hay production is.

      • frongt@lemmy.zip
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        3 days ago

        And they’re not going to. The government needs to put their thumb on the scale and shift subsides from animal agriculture to alternatives.

      • Earthwormjim91@lemmy.world
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        3 days ago

        No, almost a third of the hay grown in the western US is exported to dairy farms in China, Saudi Arabia, Japan, and a couple other countries. 31% of all hay in the western US is exported, amounting to over 2.1 million metric tonnes per year.

        The most water starved areas in the US are growing some of the most water intensive hay crops like alfalfa, for Chinese and Saudi dairy cattle an ocean away.