An Arizona Farmer on How to Grow Alfalfa in the Middle of the Desert | Odd Lots
Why Hacker News recommends it
Linked in water and Arizona threads to explain why desert farming is more productive than people assume.
What it is
An Odd Lots podcast episode with Arizona hay farmer Trevor Bales on why growing alfalfa in the desert makes sense despite drought. He covers his family's history and the sun, pest and water arguments for farming there.
Recommended by 1 HN commenters across 1 different months, 2023 to 2025.
What Hacker News said
Recommends mooreds · 2024-03 · on “Colorado River states draw battle lines over who should bear water cuts”
Actually, AZ's desert has some shocking benefits for agriculture. * Lots of sun, so you can get many growing seasons. * No pests (there's nothing else for them to live on) * Few weeds to compete with what you are growing. I know, I was surprised too. This podcast goes into more details: [this video]
Cites throw0101a · 2023-07 · on “In Phoenix, this is life at 113 degrees for more than 20 days”
> Las Vegas, Phoenix, even Southern California do not really have any business existing in their present forms. The Odd Lots podcast recently had an episode "An Arizona Farmer on How to Grow Alfalfa in the Middle of the Desert": > Due to a combination of drought, climate change and booming growth, Arizona is facing looming water scarcity. But for all the sprawl and population increase, the overwhelming amount of water used in the state is not consumed by residences, but rather farmers. So naturally, many argue that we should be doing less agriculture in the desert and move the production of cotton, alfalfa and various vegetables towards places with more rain. On this episode, we speak with T
Cites epmatsw · 2025-01 · on “TSMC begins producing 4-nanometer chips in Arizona”
It's sunny for a lot of the year. Ex. you can get an extra harvest of alfalfa per year compared to other climates. [this video]