08-11-2012, 11:21 AM
(08-11-2012, 01:44 AM)Taem Wrote: I was having dinner with my father the other day when the conversation of drought came up; I was listening to NPR news and overheard farmers who didn't have "crop insurance" having to sell their lands because they didn't have the resources necessary to keep a farm running. So naturally, I pondered why farmers don't sue the department of agriculture for not providing water for them, especially for the farmers that pay for crop insurance?
Interesting question. I can't say I know enough to really offer much of an opinion. I do, however, have a few questions.
1) If the government is functioning as an insurer, then how can they be sued for negligence? It isn't their obligation to provide water, is it? It's their obligation to pony up money in the event of drought.
2) Desalinization is expensive. Solar power is expensive. Are you sure that putting the two together would be cheaper than just accepting that crops will fail some years? Perhaps in some more food-scarce, water-abundant world, but I'm doubting it for this one.
-Jester