Article
The article was originally published by the Giannini Foundation of Agricultural Economics (University of California) that kindly gave us their permission to publish a translation of the article. The authors consider golf courses to be types of modern agricultural enterprises (with cultivated and natural green spaces occupying 88.06% of the total area on a golf course, the area of irrigated land occupying 73.40% of the total area, and intensive maintenance of plants being required for the proper function of a golf facility) with the ensuing right of golf facilities to have their needs included in policy discussions about allocation of scarce water resources in California. The authors attract readers' attention to the economic advantages of using land for golf courses - revenues per acre of land are eight times larger at golf courses than conventional commodity farms (We should add here that the golf culture in the USA is highly developed - according to statistics, a tenth of the adult U.S. population play golf). The article also gives a classification of California's golf facilities and provides data on the components of revenues from golf facilities. The authors also address the issue of a possibility of quota exchange between the holders of scarce water resources. This may help solve the problem of conflict of interest between water users, as well as help overcome the challenges of rural development in California.
