Calif farmers idle crops, veggie prices may rise

[XemaSab]

Source: SFGate

Consumers may pay more for spring lettuce and summer melons in grocery stores across the country now that California farmers have started abandoning their fields in response to a crippling drought.

Federal officials' recent announcement that the water supply they pump through the nation's largest farm state would drop further was enough to move John "Dusty" Giacone to forego growing vegetables so he can save his share to drip-irrigate 1,000 acres of almond trees.

"Taking water from a farmer is like taking a pipe from a plumber," said Giacone, a fourth-generation farmer in the tiny community of Mendota. "How do you conduct business?"

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2009/01/22/financial/f163602S93.DTL&tsp=1

[handmade34]

1. mulch...

time to start massive small scale "victory gardens".... large agribusiness farms were never the answer

[robcon]

18. I believe large farms ARE the answer.

The U.S. feeds itself with less than 2% of the population as full-time farmers, and feeds a significant part of the rest of the world as well (largest farm exporter.) 98% of the population can produce other things.

Large farms and the latest technology are what most countries need.

[crikkett]

20. we need something other than large farms. they're bad for biodiversity

and it puts people out of business.

[loudsue]

21. That's true in some respects, but we're eating a helluva lot of Chinese poison

and poison from other countries on our food right now. Maybe the U.S. is able to grow a lot of genetically modified, radiated, pesticide-ridden food in large quantities, but there's a lot to be said for good old home-grown, non-poisonous veggies and fruits.

It would behoove people in the U.S. to start learning the basics of survival again, lest we continue in the corporatist mode forever & ever amen. Corporations can feed us, but they can also "taketh away". Look what the oil companies did.

Corporations aren't good for our survival, over all.

[Zhade]

24. Gee, DU's resident conservative -- whose ideology has been found bankrupt and repudiated...

...in the recent election -- loves environment-destroying, family farm-screwing Big Agriculture.

What a shock.

When will you realize that your politics are an utter proven failure?

[Whoa_Nelly]

2. DrBidensSexxxyBoots

:rofl: :rofl:

[HillbillyBob]

7. Remember the rpigs trying to make it so the FDA did not require a point of origin

for foods a few years ago.
We now grow as much of our own food as possible.
We get eggs and honey from next door neighbors whose chickens free range and we grow organic veggies their guineas and chickens roam our yard eating bugs etc.
Our neighbors father has honey bees we get honey from him, a couple other nearby beef
farms is where we get our beef, we are currently looking for another local supplier for pork, chicken and dairy.

[bkkyosemite]

3. Being a native of CA I have watched in recent years the tearing up and building on the richest soil

in our nation for the greedy profits of the developers. We used to have far more land that grew our food in CA. So much of our vegetables are grown in China and other third world countries now that we are going to be hard pressed to have our safety come first in eating crops.

We need to garden ourselves I agree because greed will make this country starve at some point. China is polluted to the max and yet many people do not realize that our applesauce, apple juice concentrate, frozen veggies, and other staples come from there and the companies profit and will not tell the truth about the origin of our food.

Why should the crops go on growing in CA when they can grow them cheap in polluted land for us to eat. Yes there is a drought but there has been droughts before. I believe there is more to this than just the drought. Money and cheap labor and crops has a lot to do with it.

We need to stand up and tell Obama we want our food grown here where we can better have it inspected and have access to the company who grows it in the US. The conditions our food is grown in is a crime that you will not hear about on main stream media.

[Mind_your_head]

4. This is a GREAT time for this news to come out! Plan a garden/learn about gardening

and growing your own veggies. It's very inexpensive when you start with seeds. You don't need a lot of land. Many veggies can be grown in containers on balconies and patios. Many cities have "community garden plots" that you can grow your own food on....registration to obtain one of those garden plots is probably starting 'right about now' - check with your local city/park district.

Check out the Gardening Group right here on DU: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topics&forum=246
There are many experienced gardeners who willingly share their expertise, experience.

Get gardening America! It's very fascinating, fun, and extremely rewarding. Delicious, actually :-)

My 2 cents,
M_Y_H

[xxqqqzme]

10. Yes now is the time to plan your garden for the spring,

summer & fall. Here in SoCal, it is time for lettuce, broccoli, brussels sprouts, spinach & peas.

[tanyev]

25. I just ordered lots of lettuce seeds for my small garden.

It should get here soon. :)

[ConcernedCanuk]

5. I had started - growing my own food, but alas, landlady wants me to leave

.
.
.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=246&topic_id=10365&mesg_id=10365">Tomato TREES



yeah

fresh tomatoes in November!

oh well

I'll build something new wherever I end up tho

fresh veggies are unbelievable!

[sandnsea]

8. How'd you do that?

I've got a good southern window. What kind of tomato grows like that?

[Lochloosa]

19. Try a small bush growing cherry tomato. Seed link below

http://www.tomatogrowers.com/small.htm

Try this first one. Baxter's Early Bush Cherry. Yummy.

On Edit: Looking down the list there is the Micro Tom. I've never tried this one but it looks interesting. 5-8" in a 4 inch pot. Cool.

[PylesMalfunction]

22. I've grown Micro-tom

They suck. :D Try a Lime Green Salad or Silvery Fir Tree. They're also both heirlooms so you know your money won't go to Monsanto. :)

[Lochloosa]

23. Thanks, I'll do that.

[PylesMalfunction]

26. Here's a link:

http://rareseeds.com/seeds/Tomatoes-Green/Lime-Green-Salad
http://www.seedsavers.org/Details.aspx?itemNo=29(OG)

I've grown both. The Silvery Fir Tree is a nice tasting tomato and a gorgeous plant. I put it in planters on my front porch. The Lime Green Salad makes some of the best salsa you'll ever taste. :) Tomatoes are my crack. :D I grow about 35-45 kinds of heirloom plants each year and sell my extras at the farmers mkt. I'll shut up now. :D

[AsahinaKimi]

12. When I lived in Santa Barbara

We had our own tomatoes growing, plus Jalepenos, and habaneros . We also had an avacado tree and some other kinds of fruit trees growing in the back yard. OMG! Those Habaneros and Jalepenos were hot, but so good on a sandwich with fresh tomatoes.

Now, living back in San Francisco, I have to go buy my veggies from the Farmers market. I just hope they can hold out. I had some fantastic cherry tomatoes over the summer from them, and hope they will continue to produce more of the same.

The Bokchoy and Onions were also inexpensive this year..and it was a joy to shop under the shadow of San Francisco City hall!

[tabatha]

6. Local Farmers

http://guide.buylocalca.org/

http://localfooddude.com/default.aspx

[Politicalboi]

9. I can't find the story of the

Bust in Tahoe so I will post this here from Norml. It's a letter to President Obama about keeping his word about keeping the DEA out of medical MJ. Please sign.

http://norml.com/

[keopeli]

11. Link re: Tahoe marijuana cooperative busted by feds

http://www.tahoedailytribune.com/article/20090123/ARCHIVES01/901239987/1056&title=Feds%20raid%20Lake%20Tahoe%20marijuana%20dispensary

[Le Taz Hot]

13. However, farmers have needed, for years,

to update their farming practices to use less water. I can't tell you how many times I've passed acres and acres and acres being watered by massive sprinkler systems in the middle of a hot, summer summer day. Most of that water evaporates before it even hits the ground. It's the reason homeowners are limited to certain days and hours they can and cannot water their lawns. We're doing our part, it's time for the farmers to do theirs. Frankly, these guys should have started investing in drip irrigation systems years ago but they chose not to. And I don't want to hear that it's "too expensive" because those sprinkler systems are equally expensive, if not more so. Also, the article talks about growing lettuce. Lettuce takes up MASSIVE amounts of water and in return offers very few nutrients. We need to start eliminating some of the more water-wasting, nutrient-deficient crops like lettuce and white rice. Spinach, for example, uses far less water and is extremely rich in nutrients. The farmers around here have had it their way for far too long and at the expense of everyone else's health and domestic water supplies. OK farmers, flame away.

[Joanne98]

14. I'm growing my own!

[SpiralHawk]

15. 2009 - definitely time to take action on Family Food Security

This is just part of the start. Food price, quality and availability is going to get super hinky. 8 years of Republicon malfeasance have assured that.

Wise families will act now as this blog argues ... http://thecalloftheland.wordpress.com/

[wildeyed]

16. Glad I have my own garden.

Lettuce is one of the easiest things to grow.

[hornblast]

17. Curious to see how this ripples across the country

Given this news, I wonder how prices will ripple upward here in Wisconsin, where much of the food in grocery stores comes from CA. That said, I grow as much food as I can, and thereby try to use grocery stores as little as possible, which is difficult in the winter. Even here alongside Lake Michigan in the slightly warmer southeast corner of the state, the winter pretty effectively puts a limit on our growing season. That said, we were harvesting well into November last year! We'll see how it goes this year.