California's grappling with one of its worst droughts in history. The water shortage is so dire, it risks affecting the entire country's food supply. As Mother Jones reported in February, California provides 99 percent of the United States' almonds, 95 percent of its broccoli, 91 percent of its grapes and 90 percent of its tomatoes. Now those and other crops are in danger: Economists say that already, the drought has taken half a million acres of farmland out of action.
Growers have responded by — what else? — pumping more water out of the ground. But that's just a temporary fix, not much better than borrowing against the future. So some in the agricultural industry are beginning to explore technology that may help them adapt to the new, arid reality. Increasingly, farmers are interested in a type of technology that's typically more associated with surreptitious marijuana growers than massive agricultural operations.