this post was submitted on 15 Jun 2024
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A place to share pictures taken from above, that reveal interesting views, fascinating places or different angles to places.

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This is not a rule! You are welcome to share any aerial picture you feel is worth sharing. I just thought that maybe some of you may need a little help. It's really addictive once you get started!

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Farming in dry areas (lemmy.world)
submitted 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) by cosmicrookie to c/topview
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I believe that I found these in Egypt, but I am not 100% sure. Some times I get lost looking for cool places and end up in random places!

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[–] The_v 22 points 5 months ago (3 children)

That is in Saudi Arabia. Not that far from the border with Jordan.

GPS 30.0095403, 38.3257591

Those are mostly alfalfa fields that Saudi decided to use a fossil aquifer to water. Their wells are running dry and which is why there is so many abandoned fields. These are areas they don't have enough water. It's mixed in with date palms now as well.

[–] cosmicrookie 11 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Dude... did you just recognize this? how did you know? I took these pictures when I also took some pictures of Egypt and didn't even notice that I had drifted so far away, when I found these fields!

I am speechless!

[–] The_v 9 points 5 months ago

It's a very distinctive area from the pictures. It also helps that I have been there.

1:10 do not recommend a visit - too hot, no booze, mediocre food, and everyone smokes way too much. The oppressive culture isn't that great either.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 5 months ago (1 children)

You need to explain why you're putting three spaces between sentences.

[–] callcc 7 points 5 months ago (2 children)

People using typewriters often used two spaces after a full stop.

[–] The_v 5 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Hey now, I feel attacked.

We had half the typing lab full of IBM's with 5.25" floppies running WordPerfect 5.1

The other half was the IBM selectric typewriters.

Oh and "Get off my lawn!!!"

[–] [email protected] -1 points 5 months ago (1 children)

IBM’s

The apostrophe kills your entire story.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago

IBM might have leased them to them.

[–] InternetCitizen2 1 points 5 months ago (1 children)

What's the logic for that?

[–] callcc 2 points 5 months ago

To get a wider space than between words. Computers usually adjust spaces automatically so you don't need to do it yourself.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 5 months ago

And now they are growing alfalfa in California if all places to export to Saudi Arabia

[–] thechadwick 19 points 5 months ago

It's the same throughout Arizona and there's a great smarter everyday on YouTube about this kind of irrigation.

Worth the watch and believe it or not Saudi is also buying alfalfa from Arizona too. Maybe the single worst water decision I can think of..

[–] ch00f 7 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (3 children)

Are we certain these aren’t lithium extraction pools? Based on the color and variation in color between them and the fact that they’re in the desert, it could be a lithium mine.

Edit: oh some of them are multicolored. Hmm…

[–] [email protected] 24 points 5 months ago (3 children)

Not sure what lithium pool look like, but this is called center-pivot irrigation, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Center-pivot_irrigation, and it’s how crops are typically done in the desert where there is no river or canal to pull from. Water is piped from wherever, or drawn up from a well and pumped into the irrigation arm. It’s on wheels and slowly rotates around the point where water is being pumped in. I see these all the time in southern Arizona and California deserts.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)
[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 months ago

Southern Idaho too

[–] Crashumbc 1 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

They have them pretty much everywhere rain isn't reliable in the summer. There are a bunch on the east coast of the US also.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago

They likely have them everywhere because it’s a dead simple solution to watering crops. I just live in the desert, so this is where I see them all the time. I figured you wouldn’t need them in place it rained, but it makes sense as different crops have different needs.

[–] cosmicrookie 9 points 5 months ago

The images are in 4K so you can zoom in quite a lot. I think some of the discolorations is down to maybe clouds getting in the way?

I'm pretty sure its farms though https://maps.app.goo.gl/FHveJiWGL8SoHjkD6

[–] [email protected] 6 points 5 months ago

They have very clear crop lines, that seems good evidence for OPs assessment.

[–] berryjam 6 points 5 months ago

Colorado has these too

[–] thelittleblackbird 6 points 5 months ago (2 children)

Where do they get the water from?

[–] [email protected] 15 points 5 months ago

Usually every source possible. A lot of the time it's non regenerative groundwater.

[–] cosmicrookie 4 points 5 months ago

I guess maybe it's about getting as much as possible out of the little water that they have. Just changed the title to "dry areas" instead of actual deserts

[–] Etterra 4 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Good job gridding out those farms in the middle of an empty fucking desert.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago

in the middle of an empty [...] desert.

But there's the thing: It's all desert. And people still need to eat. They're using groundwater, here, and it was adequate. Decisions taken in that time period were good decisions.

Now it's changing. And just like California Almond farmers need to seriously switch to a crop that isn't at the heart of the water wars, Saudis need to switch to methods and crops that use miniscule amounts of water.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 months ago (1 children)

This is really fascinating, in Denmark a lot of the potatoes in the shops are all of a sudden coming from Egypt. Especially early in the season before any of the European potatoes are ready , and especially this year which is apperantly a bad potatoes harvest here (both too wet and too dry).

These Egyptian potatoes are also very clean like they have been grown in desert sand. I'm wondering what they're using as nutrient source , some of them claim to be organic so I guess no artificial fertilisers?

Would this eventually turn the desert green again when these fields are abondend when pests and weeds take hold? I guess after they stop pumping water there might be a chance if there are enough stuff growing to hang onto some moisture form the air. ( more likely all the nutrients will be washed or blown away)

[–] cosmicrookie 3 points 5 months ago

It indeed is interesting! I went back and took some pictures where they fields are not quite as visible. I don't know if these are new fields, or abandoned.