Friday, April 11, 2014

It's not just about WATER...

   That's my boy! Indy loves running through the oats every morning. There is always something new to smell. He looks like a black dolphin diving through a sea of green when he gets into the tall oats.

   We got the cotton planted this week. We have never had conditions like this. The soil temps are up over nine degrees since Monday morning. The cotton is sprouting fast. We are knocking the caps off already. It will be a long season and I won't relax until the last bale is picked and ginned. But, we are off to a good start.
   You can see the oats. The wheat is started heading out and is already starting to fill with milk. It is a beautiful sight. This weeks warm weather is a reminder that this month's green wheat fields will start turning golden by the end of next month.
   There was a little hiccup in the orchard. They were supposed to finish installing the drip system this week while we were off planting cotton. The original order for the drip lines was lost. Short end to the story: New drip line has been ordered and is supposed to be installed next week. I will keep you posted. 

Reason 10 in my book, "Ten Reasons:Finding Balance on Environmental Issues is about natural resources.

Reason Ten: Natural Resources

#10-I’ll start believing San Francisco environmentalists when they stop taking their drinking water from a national park.

               This chapter is about more than water. What is at issue is             the use of natural resources. In the American West one of               the largest natural resource issues is water; water
            for farms and water for cities. There are other natural                       resource issues we must address on a national and global                 scale such as; coal, natural gas, timber and even rock                       quarried for road construction.

       One of the biggest ironies in environmental policy, that I              have personally experienced, is that San Francisco takes                  over eighty one billion gallons of water out of a                                national park, transports it hundreds of miles across our                    valley, uses it once and flushes it out to the ocean. Then I                have had San Francisco environmental attorneys lecture                  me about water conservation and how if we were more                    careful with our water supply we wouldn’t have the water                quality issues we have in our valley.  Unbelievable. I could              solve some real water quality issues here in the San                          Joaquin Valley if I could have that quarter
             million acre feet that San Francisco uses to utilize our                      area...

                 Natural resource issues are important to all of us, even if              you have never been on a farm. Because we all have a                      stake in natural resource issues it is important we pay
            attention and get them right. This is important public                       policy and we have this amazing
            system of self-government where we have a say in what                   happens...

                 I digress a bit, but my point is to highlight the                              importance of what is at stake. Water policy is not just a                  fight between the farmers and the environmentalists, water
             policy is not just a California or Western issue. Water                      policy is not, in a real sense merely an American issue. If                we can get water policy in California right we not only
             solve the problem on my farm, we have also created a                      model of natural resource use for the whole world.

It is ironic and scary that there was an editorial in this week's San Jose newspaper calling for the state control of groundwater through regulation. What gets me is that the same people who took away our surface water now want to take away our groundwater.  The only solutions they offer are cutting off our means of production and raising taxes.When will they think of something new? If they win how am I going to farm? and where are you going to get your food? We have to find a better way to manage our natural resources!

If you are interested, you can find the book on Amazon.com and Barnes and Nobles website. Locally A Clovis Book Barn and Barnes and Nobles carry the book.

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