Candy

My blog this week will be about my food report.  My food report was on Almond Joy candies. I learned lots of information about the agricultural behind almonds and coconuts:  the two main ingredients in an almond joy. In drought conditions, Almond agriculture uses lots of the scarce water we need for other purposes. California, a state that often has droughts, produces 80% of the nations Almonds.  About 10% of California's water use is dedicated to Almond farming. Farmers claim it takes 1 gallon of water to grow one Almond. Farmers are using water conservation techniques to limit the amount of water the Almonds use.  They have already cut the Almond water use by 33%. Coconut farming also experiences problems that could be solved by sustainable agriculture. Coconut trees use lots of nutrients in the soil, and over time the soil becomes fallow.  To aid the soil, the farmers use synthetic fertilizers. This is a short term fix, but in the long run it leads to loss of soil structure, or erosion. Instead of using synthetic fertilizers farms should rotate crops and plant legumes to enrich the soil. -AlexP