What Gives Farmers Heart Attacks...

...is rain clouds when you are harvesting your wheat.
   It is so hot now it is hard to remember it was cooler with a chance of rain last Monday, but it was.
The good news is we got the wheat off without any problems. We also got the first two fields of cotton irrigated even without district water. We are getting a little behind with this heat, but the guys volunteered to run extra water and we will be all caught up by mid week.
   Hull split in the almonds has begun, more or less on time. So, it's hot. But, that is normal, it is summer time. We had a cool June and July will begin with a sizzle.

Below is one of my radio pieces from this past week-

We Can Be Stronger

By Paul H. Betancourt

Copyright June 2013

               There is an interesting paradox: we have some of the richest agricultural production on the planet and we have severe poverty in some of our communities.

            Part of the explanation is in the uncertainty of farming. Historically farmers have had to fight bugs, weeds and weather. Now we have to arm wrestle the government. A few years ago the Feds restricted water on the west side and 60,000 people lost their jobs. That was not weather related, that was policy related.

            Historically agricultural areas have been on the short end of the economic stick. Last year, Smithsonian magazine reported on famines in 16^th Century France where rural areas staved while the cities had food. How does that work? The farmers produced the food and then went hungry?

            We can be stronger if we have good policy. I am not overstating this. The 1993 winner of the Nobel Prize for Economics won because he proved governments cause famines, not the weather.

            We can be stronger, but the road we are heading down will not allow us to spread the wealth because there will be no wealth to spread.

I hope you all have a great week, and find somewhere cool to work.

P