The necessity of alfalfa exports from water-scarce US states is certainly not obvious. Why do you believe this is essential?
I'm all about stomping on the agribusiness water usage and think that whole swathes of agribusiness in CA should get shut down.
However, as I understand it, the alfalfa is a soil restorer that the agribusinesses are going to grow anyway. The question is whether there is any benefit to forcing the agribusinesses plow it under vs exporting it.