but no. well, at least not large in the sense of “one of the largest identified parts”. But consider that lawns are a kind of “nice to have” thing not something as essential as food and hyiene but rather recreational.
Iowa grows food. California grows luxuries. Residents in California would pay a lot more for lawns than for strawberries. The demonized alfalfa is the closest California gets to a necessity, as it is an input for milk.
See Slatestarcodex’ California, Water you doing? post which clearly answers most of the factual questions regarding water usage.
Water used for lawns indeed takes a comparably large fraction.
Where by “large” you mean “small.”
:-)
but no. well, at least not large in the sense of “one of the largest identified parts”. But consider that lawns are a kind of “nice to have” thing not something as essential as food and hyiene but rather recreational.
Iowa grows food. California grows luxuries. Residents in California would pay a lot more for lawns than for strawberries. The demonized alfalfa is the closest California gets to a necessity, as it is an input for milk.