{'fraction_non_alphanumeric': 0.018599562363238512, 'fraction_numerical': 0.0087527352297593, 'mean_word_length': 5.310344827586207, 'pattern_counts': {'":': 0, '<': 0, '<?xml version=': 0, '>': 0, 'https://': 0, 'lorem ipsum': 0, 'www.': 0, 'xml': 0}, 'pii_count': 0, 'substrings_counts': 0, 'word_list_counts': {'cursed_substrings.json': 0, 'profanity_word_list.json': 0, 'sexual_word_list.json': 0, 'zh_pornsignals.json': 0}}
Water and Food in the American West

The American West, the last region in the continental United States to be developed for extensive agriculture, is characterized by a wide range of biomes including arid, and semiarid regions, forest, and coastline. In its less water-rich places, this has forced the development of water supply infrastructure for agriculture and cities. The American West rapidly became an agricultural powerhouse to the United States and a major exporter of agricultural commodities in global economy. This chapter reviews agriculture in the western United States, followed by a short review of major western water issues for agriculture, including surface water shortages from drought and persistent groundwater overdraft. The California 2012–2016 drought is used as a case study to identify lessons for future food and fiber production in California, the western United States, and globally.