The drought did come.

It's just the beginning, but as we enter May, there's still not a drop of rain in the western and central United States. Not only in the desert area, but also in the originally humid central Great Plains, the pastures of several states at this time are still unable to grow enough grass due to drought.

The media was full of news about farms and pastures affected by drought, and it was said that the cattle were so poor that they could not even get drinking water.

And then there: California's wells are drying up and need to be drilled deeper, and the water layers that feed the entire central Great Plains have long been overexploited.

Of course, there are some positive ones, such as the use of artificial rainfall to alleviate the drought.

But there is another side effect of drought: rising temperatures. It's the beginning of May, and the maximum temperature in Las Vegas has reached July levels. Because it is always in the subtropical high pressure zone.

Wildfires in California's Central Mountains have caused thousands of people to evacuate.

The well at Fairy Peak Farm had a hard time, as they had penetrated two thin layers of sandstone before encountering a third basalt layer, which seemed to be particularly thick and hard. I've gotten a hundred meters into it, and it's still not there. This keeps the rate of drilling at a very low level. It has been 45 days of drilling, but the depth has only reached 590 meters.

Hans Farms has finally been notified that the management of Lake Mead has forbidden Hans Farms to use water directly from Lake Mead.

Fortunately, Benjamin was prepared. Over the past month, he has used more than half of the water they have available for the year, some of which is stored in low-lying areas, and most of which is poured directly into the vineyards and pastures. This ensures that these places have a water source for a certain period of time.

Of course, that may have been the trigger for Lake Mead to ban him from taking water so quickly. But he doesn't think Benjamin did anything wrong. He thought the same thing: Lake Mead would one day be closed to water. If he had done it properly, he might have access to a lot less water than he would have had if he had done so.

But the drought is already clearly threatening the Hanse farm. Water from low-lying areas seeps into the ground, evaporates, and is drunk by cattle. And this water can only last the vineyard for a month and a half. If the reservoirs dry up, he will have to use groundwater to irrigate the vineyards, but no one knows how long it will be pumped.

However, Benjamin also brought him relatively good news: "In the eastern low-lying area of the farm, the water table is relatively high, and this year's pasture planting can also ensure the forage needs of the cattle on the farm." ”

But if the drought continues, Hanse farms may have to cut back on their cattle population next year, and the fishery may also face closure. At most, a third of the fish in the fishery will be sold this year.

In order to reduce the losses, he had to plan to sell those fish in advance.

He and Jeff discuss the fish raised at Hans Farm.

Hans listened to his plan and muttered: "The first batch of fish has been farmed for nearly two and a half years, although it is still a little smaller. But it can also be sold. It's just that the price is definitely going to be lower. ”

He's talking about rainbow trout. Rainbow trout has a well-established market in the United States. But Hans Farm farms more than just rainbow trout. There is also the leaflip fish. Whether this fish market will be acceptable is still a question.

Jeff contacted his friend. As a result, it seems that the other party does not plan to buy the leaf lip fish at this time. And the price of rainbow trout has also been pushed quite low.

"The purchase price of rainbow trout. They are willing to pay $0.95 per pound. However, they hope to wait until six months later to buy the leaflip fish. ”

Link can accept their offer for rainbow trout. But you can't wait another half a year to sell the leaf lip fish. In the next six months, he will most likely need to use the water from those ponds. At the very least, it is possible to replenish the water in the aquaculture ponds without using groundwater.

Jeff had only spoken to his friend before, and the two sides had not signed a written agreement. Link doesn't have to be embarrassed.

"In that case, I'll have to find another buyer," he said. ”

Jeff understands Link's intentions and knows it's business. He made one last negotiation with his friend, but he was still reluctant to buy a fish that was still proven to be on the market, especially before they were ready for sale.

In fact, no one can say clearly about the listing specifications of leaf lipfish.

Jeff and he went to the edge of the pond where the first leaflip fish were farmed, and they cast their nets to catch a few fish. It was found that a fish had already weighed four to six pounds, and such a fish was already a large fish.

Link said, "This fish is no longer small. Catch some first, I'm going to do a test sale. ”

He took two fish and made a few dishes by himself. Frying and steaming, all done. He felt that the meat was tender and the taste was quite sweet. This fish is a higher fish with almost no intermuscular spines. It should be said that this should be the fish that Americans like to eat.

He first approached the supermarket, hoping to sell the fish directly to them. Meat in supermarkets in the United States is packed and packaged before it is put on the shelves. And Link doesn't have a processing plant. Neither do supermarkets. So they rejected his request: "We can't accept this fish on the shelves of our supermarkets unless it's processed fish." ”

Link couldn't, so he had to go to the fish market.

Link didn't look for these markets at first, mainly because it was a new fish on the market. And they're also bigger. Very few families in the United States can eat it all in one meal. Those who go to the aquatic market to buy aquatic products usually do so to eat fresh aquatic products. No one wants to buy a big fish and put it in the fridge at home.

He found two fish shops, but he didn't sell a few in a day. He had to find another way.

He thought of his western restaurant. In the kitchen of Link & Harry's restaurant, there are chefs from China. When it comes to making fish, I'm afraid that no chef in that country can compare to a Chinese chef.

He approached Harry and offered to try selling leaf lipfish at the restaurant.

Harry, of course, did not hesitate.

Link said: "I hope to start for three days, giving it away for free. The loss of the restaurant is deducted from my dividends!" he just wanted to open the market, but now he didn't have time to let him take his time. This is not, for this leaf lip fish is not wasted. He went out in person. If the restaurant's leaflip fish are not acceptable to customers, he can only destroy the fish or, with permission from the Lake Mead management, release all the fish into Lake Mead.

Harry certainly wouldn't object to his request. He nodded and said, "I will arrange for someone to do a good job of market research." I want customers to get a free fish, and they will also be willing to fill out a survey. ”

Now his western restaurant business has returned to the level before someone came to make trouble. But his business is also threatened by drought.

He told Link: "I found out that the residents of Cité Soleil were moving away because of water restrictions. The main customers of our restaurant are from Sun City. I'm worried that our business is slowly declining. ”

Link had known for a long time that Las Vegas would be affected by water constraints. But he was surprised that there was an outflow of residents so quickly. He thought it would be at least the height of summer.

He wasn't as worried as Harry, though. Their restaurant has established itself in Las Vegas. If this western restaurant is doing poorly, it will not lose money. If he had opened a few more branches in other cities, Harry would still be able to make ends meet. And the drought won't last forever.

"I don't think there will be too many people who end up moving out," he reassured. The major casinos are more worried about the decrease in foreign tourists, the vinegar bar will lay off staff, and many people who come to work will leave. When there are fewer tourists, the per capita water consumption of local residents increases. Naturally, fewer people will leave when the time comes. ”

Harry was less optimistic: "The reason more people are moving out is not just because of the lack of water, but because the water bill is quite high. You don't know, water bills in Las Vegas are now 80% higher than before. The aim is to limit water consumption by residents. This makes a lot of people unbearable. ”

That's really a problem. A lot of people don't bother to think about it comprehensively, and as long as there is something that doesn't go their way, they will look at everything unpleasantly. Now the water bill has gone up so much. Especially in a community like Sunshine City, which is mainly for the elderly, it is indeed easy for residents to move out of this community.

That didn't make much of a difference to Link, though. His business does not depend on Las Vegas. Even if Las Vegas were to become an empty city, it would have little impact on him. At most, some things need to be purchased in cities further afield.

But for many residents who depend on Las Vegas for their lives, the fall of Las Vegas will deprive them of their livelihood.

The vast majority of Las Vegas' population of more than two million people rely on Las Vegas' service industry for jobs. Casinos and hotels alone directly provide more than 300,000 jobs. All of Las Vegas depends on receiving nearly 30 million visitors a year to survive. If these tourists don't come. Or if there are fewer comes, the whole of Las Vegas will fall into a depression.

Even then, he still plans to buy the leaf lip fish to the casino.

As their motorvoy passed through the Las Vegas Strip, they were met by a large procession.

The parade held "We want water" and "Las Vegas will die of thirst...... Slogans like that.

It seems that for the first time, the tension caused by the restriction of water supply has erupted.

However, he saw that the procession, although large, was very orderly, although there were a large number of police officers on guard. But I don't see any nervousness on their part. Perhaps these cops also hope that through such an action, they can force Lake Mead to increase the water supply to Las Vegas.

That's not hard to understand. The whole of Las Vegas needs to attract tourists for these police officers to have enough money. If the casino's business is not good, the tax revenue of the casino and even the state of Nevada will drop significantly. If the casino's taxes are lost, Nevada is likely to increase other taxes, such as state personal income tax and corporate income tax.

That would seriously hurt the interests of local residents and shops of all kinds, and it would inevitably lead to massive layoffs, which is perhaps the most worrying thing.