Chicken and the egg

Original post: May 21, 2015

There is a natural tension that often accompanies any attempt to bring innovation into the world. There will always be defenders of the status quo. Many of those people make their living by supporting the way things are. It is also much easier to keep something new from happening than it is to start something fresh. Finally, there are costs to innovation. In order for someone to make the leap towards something unfamiliar, they have to feel that there is enough of a benefit.

There are many situations where we might find ourselves in a standoff. It's like the answer to the perennial question:  which came first, the chicken or the egg? For many innovative ideas, you need to recruit willing participants. However, it can be difficult to recruit these participants without promising them some kind of defined benefit. Of course, you can't prove the defined benefit unless you have the test data from the willing participants!

Something similar to this is going on in California. Residents there are struggling to comply with water restrictions due to a severe drought which has stretched on for four years. Ironically, the farmers were able to avoid the most serious restrictions despite the fact that they currently use up to 90% of the water in the state! Of course, they also realize that this drought threatens their long-term survival.

One of the best ways to save water is to irrigate fields using more efficient methods. Instead of the familiar sprinklers in crop circles, drip tape can help water get down to the roots much more effectively. Less water ends up wasted because it's blown away by winds or evaporating uselessly on stems and leaves. Unfortunately, it's really tough work to lay down drip tape (see the photo above). It is also quite costly to invest in the initial outlay of equipment and labor to install this system. It's much cheaper to drill deeper to try to bring up more groundwater. Of course, the cheaper method also has the drawback of using up a finite resource. It also has the additional handicap of making it far less likely that the groundwater will ever be replaced (even if the rains return). There are some instances of such drastic over-use of groundwater that resulted in the ground sinking several feet because so much water was taken from the aquifer!

There are no easy solutions. Standing outside the situation, it's easy to say that the farmers should invest in drip technology. That doesn't account for the fact that they may not have the capital available to invest. If the weather does not improve, it will certainly force harder choices in the days ahead.

Here is an article describing some of the challenges facing the farmers:  Why California Farmers Are Conflicted About Using Less Water : All Tech Considered : NPR