Submitted by: Submitted by chucko32
Views: 10
Words: 1038
Pages: 5
Category: Business and Industry
Date Submitted: 02/29/2016 04:35 PM
Introduction
Currently the Western coast of the United States is suffering from one of the worst droughts in history. California is known as a state with some of the most beautiful weather in the world. But this current year they are experiencing record highs in temperature and record lows in rain fall. For the past four years the west coast and specifically California have reached record highs in drought levels. They are feeling the effects of the drought in multiple ways. Some of the ways in which the drought has affected the west coast include economic, political and social effects. The following paper will discuss how changes to these factors will impact growth in the region.
Economic Effects
According to Bruce Kennedy, “California agriculture produces close to half of all the fruits, nuts and vegetables grown in America.” (Kennedy, 2014) The weather conditions and soil make-up make it an optimal place for agriculture. Farmers and people working in the agriculture business once thrived, being able to sell their products both nationally and internationally. But with the drought, many farmers have had to halt the farming and production of their goods. According to Miezowski, “Farmers in the dry Central Valley alone may stand to lose $810 million this year from keeping their fields idle.” (Miezowski, 2015) Since many of the farms will have to be shut down, there is a massive ripple effect in the work force. “The state will likely lose 17,000 agricultural jobs because of the drought.” (Miezowski, 2015) That is a staggering amount of people that will be unemployed. They have been trained in a specialized field, which makes it hard for them to find alternative jobs. A major issue is that employers have to make tough decision on whether to fire people or not. They just do not know when the drought will end, and when they can begin to harvest again.
Since there is such a lack of rainfall, farmers have had to use alternate means in order to water...