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I know, I know, it has been a while since the last post, but some things are hopefully worth the wait.
This week, we have been touring California (CA) with the Kansas Farm Bureau Farm Families of the Year(http://www.kfb.org/farmfamily/default.htm info about the award). We started in LA and are touring farms that showcase the various aspects of CA agriculture on our way up to San Francisco. We started at the Regan Library and were involved in an event where they unveiled a NASCAR to celebrate Reagans centennial. http://christopher-conservativeperspective.blogspot.com/2011/03/reagan-centennial-nascar-car-unveiling.html This link shows the car and has a video of part of the announcement. The car is supposed to run later this summer at the Kansas City Speedway.
From the Regan Library we have toured farms (ranches as they are called in CA), and have seen lemons, avocados, an insectary (raise insects for biological control of pests on area fields), a vineyard, strawberries, cut flower nursery, cold greens (avocados, lettuce, celery, etc.), and will go to a apple orchard tomorrow. One of the multitude of issues they deal with is the ag/urban interface. If the avocados or nursery crops need a pesticide application, they have to contact all of their neighbors the evening before to tell them what will be occurring. If they don't do that, one of their neighbors may call the ag. department and they get a visit from an inspector. So, even though it takes a lot of effort to inform their neighbors of the the pesticide application, it saves them a lot more work in the end. Or, if there is a nearby school, they can only apply pesticides on Saturdays.
When we toured the vineyard, we were informed of an ordinance that for every oak tree that is removed requires 10 to be planted. This isn't a state ordinance, it is an ordinance in Santa Barbara county put in place because an individual did not want the oak trees to be removed from his view from Highway 101 (they were being removed to put in a vineyard). The individual contacted an environmental agency and they got the ordinance passed.
The most interesting government interaction was with the vegetable growers along the Salinas River. Prior to two years ago, they would clean the river of invasive species and trash to allow free flow of the water. Two years ago, they were prevented from cleaning the river by environmentalists who were concerned that the growers were altering the environment. Last week when they received 6-7" of rain in day, the levee of one producers fields broke and flooded 3 of their fields. The added cost of pumping the water out is the minor problem. They are prevented from planting the fields to the crops that they were planning on for 30-120 days by the shippers they sell their crops to. The minimum of 30 days is only if they test the soil and water and it is found to be completely free of contaminates. This grower has not had a field test free contaminates without being flooded. So, a flood is a major setback to their crop production.
All of this shows us how much we should appreciate all of the work that goes into the production of the fresh produce that we have the privilege of enjoying. For those of us involved in producing food, we need to work to inform consumers and regulators of why we do what we do so that we don't have regulators knocking on our doors because we are facing a set of restrictive regulations.
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Safety first
As you can see from the lack of posts for the last several months, creating a blog post has not been a top priority in our lives that last few months. Probably a good thing as taking care of our family, house, etc. should be our primary priorities. As you can see, a blog post has risen to the top again.
Since the last post, things have changed but have also stayed the same in most respects. The weather has turned a lot dryer, but our girls are still growing and changing daily. This post is about another change that has occurred.
While we were drilling wheat in the middle of October, I (Tyler) was waiting on some parts that my brother Tanner was bringing to me. Instead of the parts, I got a phone call that he had been in an accident. So, I headed for the only vehicle I had other than the tractor I was in, a truck filled with seed wheat. So, I went over to the pickup a couple of miles away where my father was drilling. Thinking it was something minor like he wasn't paying attention and went in the road ditch, my father and I were surprised to see all of the vehicles on top of the hill as we approached the scene.
As you can see from the pictures, it was more than a small accident. They are of the pickup he was driving at the time of the accident. When he came to the top of hill West of our farm, he had a head on collusion with an older man from our community that had been out cutting wood. They were both following the tracks in the gravel road where everyone drives (normally in the middle of the road) and when they got to the top of the hill neither had time to react and hit head on.
When my father and I arrived, the EMT's were there and were cutting into the pickup trying to get Tanner out of the pickup. No one was working on the other pickup to get to the other gentleman, so it was apparent he was no longer alive. The EMT's tried to keep Tanner stable while they waited on the life watch helicopter to arrive from Wichita (he was awake the entire time that someone was at the scene). Once the life watch team arrived after he had been in the pickup for an hour and a half to two hours, the EMT's removed him from the pickup.
After an hour ride to Wichita in the helicopter (about 250 miles), the medical team determined that he had a shattered right ankle, broken left femur, broken left wrist, and many bruises and cuts. He had surgery the next day to put a rod in his left leg and plates in his ankle and wrist. After a week in ICU to watch his breathing, he was moved to another facitility for 2 weeks before he came back to Ness City to our parents house.
After quite a road to recovery, he is doing well. He is now walking with a cane and will slowly get back to walking again without support (cane or crutches) over the next month.
This post is meant as a reminder to all of us that we have to always be on the look out while on the road. All of our family and our neighbors have come to the top of that same hill thousands of times without and incident, but at any time someone could have been coming from the other side and it could have been any one of us in an accident as most everyone drove in the same tracks. It took awhile to break the habit, but I now move over to the side of the road when I come to the top of the hill on a gravel road. There are numerous examples of things that farmers and ranchers do on a daily basis that could be done differently so that they are done more safely. We hope that this post would allow everyone to reevaluate what they do on a daily basis that as they drive down the road or go about their daily chores that they would remain as safe as possible.
Since the last post, things have changed but have also stayed the same in most respects. The weather has turned a lot dryer, but our girls are still growing and changing daily. This post is about another change that has occurred.
While we were drilling wheat in the middle of October, I (Tyler) was waiting on some parts that my brother Tanner was bringing to me. Instead of the parts, I got a phone call that he had been in an accident. So, I headed for the only vehicle I had other than the tractor I was in, a truck filled with seed wheat. So, I went over to the pickup a couple of miles away where my father was drilling. Thinking it was something minor like he wasn't paying attention and went in the road ditch, my father and I were surprised to see all of the vehicles on top of the hill as we approached the scene.
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When my father and I arrived, the EMT's were there and were cutting into the pickup trying to get Tanner out of the pickup. No one was working on the other pickup to get to the other gentleman, so it was apparent he was no longer alive. The EMT's tried to keep Tanner stable while they waited on the life watch helicopter to arrive from Wichita (he was awake the entire time that someone was at the scene). Once the life watch team arrived after he had been in the pickup for an hour and a half to two hours, the EMT's removed him from the pickup.
After an hour ride to Wichita in the helicopter (about 250 miles), the medical team determined that he had a shattered right ankle, broken left femur, broken left wrist, and many bruises and cuts. He had surgery the next day to put a rod in his left leg and plates in his ankle and wrist. After a week in ICU to watch his breathing, he was moved to another facitility for 2 weeks before he came back to Ness City to our parents house.
After quite a road to recovery, he is doing well. He is now walking with a cane and will slowly get back to walking again without support (cane or crutches) over the next month.
This post is meant as a reminder to all of us that we have to always be on the look out while on the road. All of our family and our neighbors have come to the top of that same hill thousands of times without and incident, but at any time someone could have been coming from the other side and it could have been any one of us in an accident as most everyone drove in the same tracks. It took awhile to break the habit, but I now move over to the side of the road when I come to the top of the hill on a gravel road. There are numerous examples of things that farmers and ranchers do on a daily basis that could be done differently so that they are done more safely. We hope that this post would allow everyone to reevaluate what they do on a daily basis that as they drive down the road or go about their daily chores that they would remain as safe as possible.
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