Bee populations are so low in the US that it now takes 60% of the country’s surviving colonies just to pollinate one California crop, almonds. and that’s not just a west coast problem—California supplies 80% of the world’s almonds, a market worth $4 billion. - quartz
Labels: almonds, bees, California, California Agriculture
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Labels: Agriculture, California Agriculture, Farms, Santa Barbara, Strawberries
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Should you ever want to see firsthand how completely dysfunctional our modern food system is, I urge you to hop a flight to Santa Barbara, California.
That's just what I did late last month to attend the annual Edible Institute, a conference organized by Edible Communities, a network of several dozen magazines that celebrate local food.If ever there was a group of Americans that should be able to eat locally with neither effort nor sacrifice, it's the 425,000 residents of Santa Barbara County, about 90 miles north of Los Angeles. Santa Barbara County grows commercial quantities of more than 50 vegetables, everything from artichokes to zucchini. Apples, peaches, oranges, lemons, and melons are among the more than 25 varieties of fruits raised there. There's beef, pork, and chicken. All of which can be washed down with a terrific bottle of local Pinot or Chardonnay.
Given this abundance and a year-round mild climate, it didn't surprise me to learn from David Cleveland, a professor at the University of California Santa Barbara who gave a presentation at the institute (PDF), that Santa Barbara ranks among the top 1 percent of American counties for agricultural production, with annual sales of $1.2 billion. Nor did it surprise me that 99 percent of what is grown in Santa Barbara is exported: a box of Santa Barbara mandarins currently sits on the counter of my Vermont kitchen.
But then Cleveland dropped a statistical bombshell: In this land of plenty, overflowing with all manner of great local food, fully 95 percent of the fruits and vegetables consumed in the county are shipped in from elsewhere. "Picture two produce-laden tractor-trailers passing on the highway," he said. "One bringing food into the county; the other hauling it out." - The Atlantic
Labels: Agriculture, California Agriculture, Edible Santa Barbara, Fancy Food, Santa Barbara
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The county ranks 24th nationally in the value of its agricultural production – $951 million in the 2007 ag census. The county, which has 11 farmers markets, ranks No. 2 in broccoli and cauliflower, 6th for lettuce and 24th overall in the category of vegetables, melons, potatoes and sweet potatoes. If local veggies aren’t enough for you, try the pistachios, grown in the Sierra Madre Range that rises above the Pacific. Lemons, oranges and grapefruit grow in the heart of city of Santa Barbara, including on the grounds of the city’s famed 18th century mission that overlooks the ocean. Restaurants offer local swordfish.
But more than 95 percent of the fruits and vegetables consumed in the county are brought in from elsewhere, said David Cleveland, a professor of environmental studies at the University of California-Santa Barbara. Meanwhile, 99 percent of what the county does produce goes elsewhere, according to his research.
And oh yes, here in this land of plenty of fruits and vegetables,four in 10 adults are households classified as food insecure. More than half of adults are overweight or obese. - DesMoines Register
Labels: Agriculture, California Agriculture, Edible Institute, Food Imports, Santa Barbara, Vegetables
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which is boosting California pistachio sales. Did you know that 98% of U.S. pistachios come from the Golden State? California pistachio growers are finding themselves the unexpected beneficiaries of U.S. trade sanctions against Iran. A U.S. ban on Iranian pistachios went into effect on Wednesday, as the Obama administration ratchets up economic pressure on Iran to open its nuclear facilities to international inspection. President Obama signed the ban on July 1. It's good news for American pistachio farmers, who have long vied with Iran for dominance in the U.S.'s $700-million domestic market, as well as overseas. And it's particularly welcome for Golden State farmers, who are in the midst of harvest season. - LatteTimesI, myself, am partial to our local growers Santa Barbara Pistachios. I pick them up at our Farmer's Market pretty much every Saturday. (Yes...I gobble them up that fast..) My favorite? The Chile Lemon!
Labels: California, California Agriculture, farmers, obama, pistachios, Santa Barbara
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You probably wouldn't notice it, but Southern California's avocado trees definitely do ---- the water is getting saltier. And the trend poses yet another challenge to the region's avocado growers, who for years have struggled with the rising price and reduced supply of water.
Avocado trees stressed by excessive salt produce smaller fruit, said Charley Wolk, an avocado grower in Fallbrook, a major center of San Diego County's $137 million annual avocado crop, about 40 percent of the state total. Smaller fruit reduces growers' income, because they're paid by weight and not the number of avocados they produce.
"As the blend gets more Colorado River water, we get more salt," said Wolk, owner of Bejoca Grove Management. "I think it's rather unique. The water meets the state's standard for human consumption, but it's not worth a damn for us to grow things." - North County Times
Labels: avocado, California Agriculture, farmers, Water
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Farmers, restaurants and supermarkets throw away millions of tons of edible food each year at a time when a growing number of Californians struggle to put food on the table.
More than 6 million tons of food products are dumped annually, enough to fill the Staples Center in Los Angeles 35 times over, state studies have found. Food is the largest single source of waste in California, making up 15.5 percent of the state's waste stream, according to the California Integrated Waste Management Board. - SFGate
Labels: California, California Agriculture, Food, Food Banks, restaurants, waste
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Or rather, little tiny moths having the economic hit of a monster that size...and they're here.California grape growers have a new threat to deal with this spring, in addition to perennial concerns about frost and heat: The European grapevine moth has invaded Napa Valley, one of the top U.S. wine-producing regions.
More than 160 square miles (414 square kilometers) have been quarantined, including parts of Napa, Sonoma and Solano counties, after larvae from the non-native moth were discovered, the California Department of Food and Agriculture said yesterday in a statement.
...One grape farmer lost his entire crop last year, according to the Food and Agriculture department. - Business Week
California Department of Food and Agriculture Secretary A.G. Kawamura came to the Yountville Community Center Wednesday and spoke briefly at a pest workshop sponsored by the Napa Valley Grapegrowers.
His visit came one day after the state agriculture department and the U.S. Department Agriculture announced a 162-square-mile quarantine in and around Napa Valley against the European grapevine moth for Napa Valley. The quarantine means growers, vintners, and those transporting grapes will have to receive special certification and follow specific safety guidelines and inspections before moving or crushing grapes.
....State budget constraints are making it more difficult to adequately deal with threats to agriculture, he said.
He encouraged farmers to make their voice heard with state lawmakers. No one wants the cuts, Kawamura said, “because it makes you more vulnerable. You have to be vocal. Don’t be afraid to send e-mails and letters.” - Napa Valley Register
Labels: California, California Agriculture, Grapes, Vineyards, Wine
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California agricultural producers who are certified organic or transitioning to organic production, may qualify for technical and financial assistance through a special initiative administered by USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service.Some $2 million in funding will be available to eligible producers in California as part of the agency's Environmental Quality Incentives Program. Organic producers must submit applications by March 12 for funding consideration during fiscal year 2010.
Noting that the EQIP deadline for most applicants was Jan. 15, District Conservationist Phil Hogan said the agency was allowing a bit more time for organic and transitioning producers to develop their conservation applications but stressed they should begin the process as soon as possible.
Hogan encourages organic producers and those transitioning to organic production to contact his office at 662-2037, ext. 111, and learn more about this opportunity before the March 12 sign-up deadline. - The Daily Democrat
Labels: California, California Agriculture, farmers, farming, Organic
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Labels: Agriculture, avocado, California Agriculture, For Sale
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At a farm in Manteca, in San Joaquin County, workers smack labels onto watermelons freshly cut from the vine, each sticker bearing a unique string of letters and numbers that identifies where they were harvested."With food safety as big as it is, we can give each watermelon its own code so a consumer can check on the Internet to see where it is grown," said Ryan Van Groningen of Van Groningen & Sons Farms, which sells watermelons under the Yosemite Fresh brand.
This new code, called the HarvestMark, is being developed by the Redwood City startup YottaMark Inc. at a time when Congress is considering food-safety legislation that could make some type of tracking system mandatory.
...The tracking system is not unprecedented. For example, premium San Francisco chocolatemaker Original Beans prints similar locator codes on its wrappers to show where the cacao beans in an individual bar were grown. - SFGate
GottaLove it
Labels: California, California Agriculture, Chocolate, food safety, San Francisco
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Since its adoption 44 years ago, the California Land Conservation Act, popularly known as the Williamson Act, has grown into the state's most important farmland protection program. The Williamson Act has served California very well, but it is facing its most significant challenge due to the ongoing state budget crisis.
In addition to protecting one of our state's most valuable resources—our agricultural land—other significant benefits of the act must also be recognized and appreciated for their contribution to our quality of life: the protection of our precious watersheds; the availability of and access to a local, safe and affordable food supply; wildlife habitat; and the beautiful landscapes that are so important to all of our citizens.
...In addition to its significant impacts on the state and local economies, the Williamson Act is widely appreciated by those in the environmental, agricultural and business communities, as well as by state and local government officials, as one of the most important environmental laws ever adopted in California. It has encouraged good land use planning and prevented leapfrog developments that can be devastating to agricultural and natural resources.- California Farm Bureau Federation
Program benefiting farms and ranches gutted.
...Under the Williamson Act, landowners sign 10-year contracts with the county that allow ranchers and farmers to pay property taxes based on what they produce on their land, instead of charging them the same taxes residential landowners pay.
The state then reimburses the counties the difference.
As a result, county governments - not farmers - will initially see the effect from the funding cuts, said Assemblyman Jim Nielsen, R-Gerber.
..."That's discretionary dollars," Lees said, meaning the money can be used for just about anything.
Bundy said most ranches and farms under Williamson Act protection might be temporarily safe from drastic tax increases because of the 10-year contracts. But he was quick to add that he didn't know for sure.- Redding.com
...Farmland preserved by the Williamson Act takes more of the world’s primary greenhouse gas — carbon dioxide — out of the air than any other program now contemplated. More than the proposed tailpipe emission changes and carbon-trading programs proposed as ways to carry out the landmark 2006 AB32, the most aggressive anti-climate change bill ever passed anywhere. More than scrubbing every smokestack in California. More than all proposals to clean up ship- and truck-caused emissions from all California’s ports put together. - Ventura County Star
Now, more than ever, we need to support our farmers...our farmland...our open spaces our environment... because they are endangered more than ever.
Labels: Agriculture, budget, California Agriculture, farmers, farming, Farms, Governator
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...Here are some not-so-fun facts: California's agricultural sector grows approximately one-third of the nation's food supply and is nourished by diverted rivers and streams filled yearly by runoff from its prodigious sierra nevada snowpack, as well as groundwater pumping and other less-reliable methods. that snowpack -- which once sparked the first, but not the last, water war that helped transform a semi-arid Los Angeles into an unsustainable oasis less populous than only new york city -- is disappearing fast....
To make matters worse, a crushing drought, now well into its third year, has made simply everything problematic. In California's Central Valley, home to a majority of the State's agricultural output, farmers are leaving hundreds of thousands of acres fallow, and the resultant economic depression is having a domino effect that could cost California $1 billion to start and is causing residents of a one-time food powerhouse to go hungry. - Alternet
Labels: California, California Agriculture, Climate Change, drought, Global Warming, Los Angeles
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For the third straight year, the value of ag products in Santa Barbara County surpassed the $1 billion mark.
The county crop report shows for 2008, production value reached about $1.14 billion. That is an increase of about three percent compared to 2007. More than 50 different crops reported gross receipts, or sales before expenses, of more than $1 million.
Daren Gee has been in the strawberry business for years. Once again, strawberries remain the county's top crop, grossing more than $309 million. - KSBY
Labels: Agriculture, California Agriculture, Santa Barbara, Strawberries
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California's bees perked up last year, producing 35 percent more honey than in 2007, according to a U.S. Department of Agriculture report issued this week.The resurgence is one of several signs
that the health of the state's commercial bees is improving.
But beekeepers and researchers say it's not yet clear the threat known as colony collapse disorder has passed. The still-mysterious condition, which causes bees to abandon their hives, thrust the insects into the media spotlight in 2007. The nation's 2.4 million commercial beehives help to produce nearly one-third of U.S. food. - Sacramento Bee
Labels: bees, California, California Agriculture, Colony Collapse Disorder, USDA
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The amount of the fruit squeezed in the fall is down about 6% from the previous year, a government report says. That should help keep inventories down and reduce pressure to slash prices.
...The state's wine industry, already struggling with slowing sales because of the poor economy, won't be dealing with a glut of grapes from last year's harvest, according to a report released today.
...Though overall tonnage of red-wine grapes harvested dipped 9% to 1.7 million, the popular pinot noir varietal grew by almost 17%. Fredricks said much of that growth was fueled by demand for the wine by restaurants, which have seen wine sales slide. - LATimes
Labels: California, California Agriculture, Pinot Noir, Sideways, Wine
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Purchasing managers for Kraft Foods and Frito-Lay have admitted taking a total of $318,000 in bribes from a broker at a major Central California tomato processor while arranging to buy the company's products at inflated prices, federal prosecutors said Tuesday.The Ethicurean has a great (kinda scary) blog post about the consolidation of the tomato industry.
A third defendant pleaded guilty Tuesday to defrauding his former employer, a tomato products manufacturer and marketer, out of $975,000 before leaving in 2005 to join the tomato processor, SK Foods of Lemoore (Kings County). The charges, filed in U.S. District Court in Sacramento, are part of a federal price-fixing investigation involving SK Foods.
...Prosecutors have said the corruption alleged in the case has raised consumer prices for tomato sauces, soups and salsas. The charges announced Tuesday provided the first few details. - SFGate
Before World War II, there were commercial growers and canners in many states — including Delaware, Virginia, Utah, New Jersey and New York — and California produced only 20% of the nation’s tomatoes. Thanks to the development of both mechanical harvesting equipment and tomato varieties that can be picked by machine, the number rose to 50% in 1953, and reached 95% in 2007.
...Concentration in the tomato industry goes beyond the farm, into the seed business, where just three companies — Heinz, Bayer CropScience and Monsanto — control 90% of the market.
Labels: California Agriculture, farming, Frito-Lay, Illegal, Kraft Foods, Tomatoes
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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.
California's sweeping Central Valley grows most of the country's fruits and vegetables in normal years, but this winter thousands of acres are turning to dust as the state hurtles into the worst drought in nearly two decades. - AP via YahooNews
Labels: California Agriculture, drought, farmers, food supply
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Avocados from Mexico, Chile and even Florida will satisfy consumers' guacamole cravings this winter, but there could be shortages when the California crop is ready for harvest.
A combination of environmental and economic woes hit California growers in 2008, setting the stage for the smallest avocado crop in years. The California Avocado Commission reported that only 95,254 tons would be harvested from March to August, making this the smallest crop since the 1990 when the crop was affected by a severe freeze. - Capital Press
Labels: avocado, California, California Agriculture, drought
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State auditors say employees of the California Avocado Commission misspent tens of thousands of dollars in farmers' contributions on clothing, gifts and other personal expenses.
The audit released Friday also claims the Commission's former chief executive improperly used $17,000 to renovate his home.
Mark Affleck, who resigned as Chief Executive in May to take a leadership position with Saddleback Church, declined to comment friday. AP via Yahoo News
...The 89-page audit paints a picture of a freespending organization whose employees dipped regularly at the trough, charging up birthday gifts and flowers for colleagues, running personal mail through FedEx accounts and regularly charging lunches for the entire staff.
It says employees racked up more than $1.5 million on commission-issued credit cards from 2005-2008, the three fiscal years covered in the audit. Some of those charges were called "questionable at best and even personal at times." - SFgate
Maybe that's why our avocados are a little pricey of late....Commission board members, their spouses, guests and employees spent thousands of dollars on "massages, nail service, facials and body treatments" during meetings at the Ritz-Carlton Laguna Niguel and at luxury spas in La Jolla and Del Mar in San Diego County. - LATimes
Labels: avocado, California Agriculture, corruption
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