Alfalfa Farming and the US Drought: Overview.

Introduction

Since the time of the ancient Greeks and Romans, alfalfa has been used as a forage crop for animals and has been cultivated in order to produce hay to feed livestock. Much of the modern world’s alfalfa is produced in the Midwestern and Western United States, including California, South Dakota, Idaho, Iowa, and Minnesota. The economies of those states rely heavily on alfalfa harvests as well as on the dairy and cattle production it supports.

However, in the early twenty-first century, many alfalfa-producing regions have experienced extreme drought. Rainfall has been far below historic averages and low reservoirs lack the capacity to supply crucial irrigation systems. As a result, alfalfa production and quality has been down.

During this same period of dry weather, however, US agricultural exports reached an all-time high. The exportation of alfalfa to Asia and the Middle East causes tension within the agricultural industry. Dairy farmers and environmental analysts criticize alfalfa farmers for using scarce water resources to produce hay for foreign markets, which in turn forces domestic dairy farmers to pay high prices for diminished alfalfa supplies. Meanwhile, alfalfa farmers and economic analysts assert that agricultural exports play a significant role in closing the trade gap between the United States and China and that other, less beneficial uses could be cut to conserve water. As drought conditions in the Western US continued into the 2020s, the output of other crops, such as avocados, tomatoes, and almonds, faced similar issues to those that affected alfalfa production. As a result, further strain was put on the area's crop production and already-limited water supplies.

Understanding the Discussion

Alfalfa: A common crop in the middle and western United States that is produced in large quantities and is used as a forage crop and to make hay to feed livestock.

Central Valley: A large, flat valley near the geographical center of California that is approximately 450 miles long and approximately 50 miles wide.

Imperial Valley: A flat valley located in southeastern California that is bordered by the Colorado River to the east and the Salton Sea to the west.

Irrigation: A system used to water crops in the absence of adequate rainfall.

Trade deficit: The difference in value between imported goods and exported goods for a country.

US Department of Agriculture (USDA): The federal department responsible for overseeing agricultural production and trade.

History

Cultivated since the time of the ancient Greeks and Romans, alfalfa is a forage crop for animals to eat while grazing. It is also used to make hay that is fed to cattle by dairy farmers and ranchers. Alfalfa can be harvested multiple times per year. In some of the best growing regions, including the middle and western United States, harvests can occur up to twelve times annually on a cycle of twenty-eight to thirty-two days. However, alfalfa can be somewhat difficult to cultivate. It requires a temperate climate, level ground, nonacidic soil, a lot of fertilizer, and continuous monitoring to protect it from damaging insects.

The alfalfa produced in the Western United States, particularly in California’s Central and Imperial Valleys, is sought after because of its high-quality fiber and protein content, which can improve the yield from dairy cows. The first harvest of the season usually contains the highest nutritional content and is sold at a premium to dairy farmers seeking to maximize milk production yield. Later harvests with slightly lower nutritional content are sold at lower prices and are often exported.

Animal feed crops are big business throughout the United States' farming regions. According to agribusiness news source AG Web, the top five US states that produced alfalfa in 2014 (California, South Dakota, Idaho, Iowa, and Minnesota) also made up 35 percent of the country’s total alfalfa production. In general, hay accounted for a significant part of the economy even in states with more modest production. For example, according to Oklahoma State University’s forage and pasture management department, by 2015, the state contained more than eight million acres of forage crops including alfalfa, with an economic impact of $875 million.

In addition to feeding livestock in the United States, alfalfa is also exported to other parts of the world, including Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, China, and the United Arab Emirates. The University of California, Davis Alfalfa Workgroup reported that in 2012, alfalfa alone accounted for about $561 million of the $1.2 billion in total hay exports from the United States. China in particular represented a fast-growing destination for American hay exports and surpassed long-time leader Japan as the largest Asian purchaser of alfalfa in 2014. As China experienced its own environmental and expansion issues with reduced water and land resources, it increasingly relied on alfalfa imported from the United States to support its rapidly growing dairy industry. By mid-2014, the United States had shipped a record 575,000 tons of alfalfa to China.

At the same time that the global market for American alfalfa expanded, the regions that produce these crops have suffered some of the worst droughts in recorded history. In the early twenty-first century, what later became known as a megadrought began affecting the Western United States. Identified as the driest period the region has experienced since at least 800 C.E., the megadrought continued into the 2020s and had a profound impact on the region, particularly the agricultural industry. Due to the scarcity of rain across the region, water supplies in reservoirs became lower than ever, with many reporting record lows. These severe water shortages resulted in the destruction of many crops. Hoping to curb some of these difficulties, government leaders called for strict water conservation efforts from farmers and residents alike. For example, California provided farmers with allocations to determine how much surface water (which includes rain, reservoirs, and other bodies of water) they can use for irrigation. But for many farmers, their allocation was insufficient to support their crops. As hay marketing analyst Seth Hoyt explained, when faced with a potential water shortage, farmers might cut their crops early, thus reducing the quality of the crop from premium grade to fair and decreasing the market price they could then obtain for that hay.

Nevertheless, in California’s Imperial Valley, year-round alfalfa harvests continued. The region’s location in the southern part of the state near the Colorado River allowed farmers to establish irrigation systems and obtain surface water from sources unavailable to farmers in other parts of the country. Meanwhile, the diminished rainfall increased the amount of water used for irrigation systems.

The persistent drought across the Midwestern and Western United States impacted alfalfa production. AG Web reported data from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) that shows overall hay production decreased between 9 and 20 percent from the ten-year average during the 2012, 2013, and 2014 growing seasons. Alfalfa production specifically was also down, especially in California, where drought conditions were damaging fields and farmers switched to more profitable crops such as almonds and wine grapes. Furthermore, alfalfa production in California peaked in 2002, with eight million tons. By 2012, it was down to just over six million—a particularly significant drop, given that domestic and foreign demand soared during that same time period. Due to the increasing demand and decreasing supplies, the price for alfalfa doubled over a three-year period.

Throughout the extended drought in California, farmers produced between 5.3 to 6.2 million tons of alfalfa annually. In 2017, only 4.6 million tons of alfalfa were produced in the state. Nevertheless, AG Web reported that California farmers exported more alfalfa to China in the first two quarters of 2017 than in that same period the preceding year; other major export destinations were Japan, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. Prices for alfalfa varied dramatically within the country, from $185 per ton in California to $215 per ton in Tennessee, reflecting drought conditions in the South.

Alfalfa Farming and the US Drought Today

By 2022, the ongoing megadrought in the Western US had been identified as the region’s driest period in at least 1,200 years. Attributed in part to climate change, the already depleted water supplies were further strained by infrastructural development and the region’s enormous agricultural industry. According to data presented at the 2023 USDA Agricultural Outlook Forum, hay stocks in the US in December 2022 amounted to 71.9 million metric tons, down from the 2010–19 average of 88.7 million metric tons. US hay stocks in 2022 were the lowest on record for 70 years, which was attributed to the ongoing severe droughts in major alfalfa-producing regions.

The megadrought also affected other crops, notably avocados—the demand of which surged in the early twenty-first century. By 2022, officials in California’s San Diego County reported that avocado production dropped from an estimated worth of $152.9 million to $82.8 million between 2020 and 2021, a 46 percent decrease. Ongoing drought, the high cost of water, and heatwaves were all identified by county officials as contributing factors. By this time, similar issues plagued tomato farmers in the region, who struggled to meet demand largely due to low water availability and high water costs. By 2023, advocacy groups called for a limit to be placed on the growth of water-intensive crops such as alfalfa and almonds in California to conserve water.

Drought conditions and growing demand for alfalfa and other crops in the United States and abroad have created tension within the agriculture industry. Environmental analysts and dairy farmers have criticized alfalfa farmers for using irrigation water at a time when critical shortages existed throughout the country. They are further outraged that alfalfa has been shipped overseas rather than sold domestically despite decreasing crop yields. However, economic experts and alfalfa farmers have pointed to agricultural exports, including alfalfa, as playing a major role in narrowing the US-China trade gap. They have noted that it can be less expensive to ship alfalfa to Asia than domestically, and Asian farmers are often willing to pay higher prices for lower-quality alfalfa than are domestic farmers.

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