Lessons from California Ag

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.