Saturday, January 31, 2015

Almond Planting and Lessons from the Drought

BOY!! Does that feel good!!

We got the almonds planted in the field behind the house. I know they are only sticks right now, but it is soooooo nice to have trees back there. It already feels like an orchard, instead of a open ground.
     I can hardly wait to see these trees grow!!

On a side note, can you see the water? We watered the trees in. The field was lasered dead flat and the rows are 600 feet long. We cut the water off and you can see it is perfectly flat. 
     
     Why is that important? We can irrigate with almost perfect efficiency without a drip system in these conditions.
   
     Why is that important? Drip systems are not a silver bullet. They are a tool. Drip systems are energy intensive, because you have to pressurize the system. Drip systems are also labor intensive, because you have to check every emitter, every day. In this field we are as efficient with our water, without the costs. Not bad.

We have never had water to waste as long as I have been here. Even before this current drought we were always careful with our water. Not only is that proper conservation of a precious resource, it is good farming. If you over water plants you can drown them. If you under water plants they stress. In neither case do they produce the quality or quantity.

Below is a piece I wrote four years ago. It is hard to believe that only four years ago people were asking me if that drought was over. I stand by my closing comment here-

Is the Drought Over?
A logical question after our heavy rains and snow last winter and the fact people were snow skiing on the 4th of July- is the drought over?
The answer is Yes... and No.
The fact is we have wet years and dry years in California and they tend to come in bunches. I have looked at the historical data back to the 1860’s and every twenty years or so there is a two or three year drought. John Steinbeck mentions the pattern in his novel ‘East of Eden.’
This past winter we had 160% normal rainfall. Millions of acre feet of flood water ran out to the ocean. (An acre foot is approximately 325,000 gallons). Meanwhile, on the west side of the valley, farmers are only getting 80% of our full allotment.
So, Yes the drought is over—for now. We have had two winters of heavy rain and snow.  But, No, the drought is not over because we haven’t learned to save water from the wet years to use in the dry years.                                                          

Please Don't Forget- This next week is my reading from "This Week on the Farm" at Peeve's Public House in downtown Fresno, Thursday night at 7pm. Come hoist a local craft brew and enjoy the evening.
      You can find directions at http://peevespub.com/    

Sunday, January 25, 2015

Farmers and Paperwork





Farmers and Paperwork
By Paul H. Betancourt
Copyright August, 2011

            It is no secret that farmers hate paperwork. Do you know why? Because we make our living growing things, not filling out forms.

            Have you noticed we have this huge cadre of intelligent, educated people in this country whose job is to regulate the producers. I understand that we have to have regulations. But, do you see my point, we have some of our brightest and best who spend their days not helping us be productive, but actually slowing us down from what we do best- produce food and fiber for the rest of you.

            My favorite example was when I called to find a poster the state wanted me to post at our work site. The guy who answered the phone didn’t have one, couldn’t mail me one, but he wanted me to shut down the farm until we had his form posted. Am I the only one who thinks this is crazy?


            I know we need regulations. But filling out forms is not an end in itself. Let me and my neighbors do what we do best – grow food.

Saturday, January 17, 2015

I Wish Every Politician Knew What Every Farmer Already Knows

   I am coming to the conclusion I do not like January. It's too foggy for a motorcycle ride and thanks to our friends in Sacramento and DC there is more an more paper work each year. (And, I will admit I am not even doing the heavy lifting on the paperwork. My father-in-law keeps the books and my mother-in-law does the payroll. She's got to do the 1099 forms this time of year.)
   But, there are new forms and reports to fill out every year. I'm fairly young, I'm educated and I was city raised and it still bugs me. I can only wonder what the old farmers are thinking each year when there is new paperwork.
In the Useful Work Department we finished pre-irrigating the first cotton field. The onion beds are getting worked and we finished pruning the orchard. You can get a lot done when the fields are fairly dry. We are also plugging away on projects in the shop.
   Next week we will get the ground behind my house ready to plant trees. 


I Wish Every Politician Knew What Every Farmer Already Knows
by Paul H. Betancourt
copyright April 2012

            I wish every politician knew what every farmer already knows.

        For starters, it’s easier to get into debt than it is to get out of debt. That is why farmers are careful about every expense. We are not just cheap, we just like being out of debt, all the time.


        Second, Reality is a hard taskmaster. Farmers don’t succeed through wishful thinking or the latest theory. Farming is hard enough when we work hard, work smart and use all the experience we have earned the hard way. Feel good theories just make you go broke--- faster.

        Thirdly, successful farmers balance self-reliance and community. I can’t do everything on my own- so, I need community. I can’t always wait for the community- so, I learn to take care of myself. We are stronger, as a country, when we are a community of self-reliant producers than what Ayn Rand called “looters and moochers.”


         Finally, sooner or later you have to produce something- other than paperwork. Wealth is created by producing products or providing services. We are getting less and less of either from our government.

I sure wish every politician knew what every farmer already knows.

I hope you all have a great week.

P                                                            

Saturday, January 10, 2015

Punishing the Innocent

   A number of people have asked me, now that we are back from Christmas vacation what are we doing on the farm? Isn't it a slow time of year? Yes, and no.

   
   We are pre-irrigating cotton ground. We are working to finish pruning the almond trees by the middle of the month.
  Speaking of the almonds. A few of you have asked if the cold weather hurts the almonds. Actually, we need some more cold weather now to set a proper crop later. Almonds and other fruit and nut trees need a certain amount  of "chilling hours" to be properly dormant. In spite of the weather in recent weeks, we are not quite there yet. UC Davis has a cool website that helps us monitor our local chilling hours. So, my apologies to those who are freezing in this weather, we need a few more weeks. That being said, I hope things are properly warm and dry next month when the trees start blooming.

   And then there are always projects around the shop. So we are busy refurbishing a pump and getting equipment ready for the Spring rush. Yes, there is less field than the busy times of year. But, the more we use our down time to prepare for the busy times the better off we are. Less boredom now and less excitement later.

   Oh, by the way, I will be doing a reading of stories from my book, This Week on the Farm, at Peeve's Public House in Fresno on February 5th at 7pm. Come on down for a pint and an interesting evening with friends. You can find more on Peeves at http://peevespub.com/

Punishing the Innocent
By Paul H. Betancourt
Copyright January 2015

            Among the new laws in California for 2015 is another example of punishing the innocent.
            If a farmer employs a contract labor and the labor contractor shorts his employees the farmers can now be held liable. Excuse me, why not punish the contractor?
            Workers not getting paid is a terrible thing and must end. But, why not punish those who short change their employees? Your newspaper deliverer does not work for the Bee. If the paper person does not get paid by the Bee, are you liable? I wouldn’t think so. The workers would go after the Bee. As they should.

            Have you noticed this has been the pattern lately? You have doubts? Fair enough. How about college campus rapes? This was one of the big stories of 2014. Rape is already illegal. So is consuming alcohol for people under 21. But, in response to this national epidemic instead of punishing rapists and people who sell or give alcohol to minors every student at Fresno State will no go through training on the subject. Excuse me? Rape is a horrible crime. The problem of alcohol on our college campuses is getting worse. Instead of dealing with the issue head on, those in charge wring their hands and institute more “training”.

            I’m sure you can think of other examples. While the Governor is letting people out of jail for “minor” drug offenses and we have redefined many felonies down to misdemeanors,  you and I have a larger bundle of laws stacked on our necks each year. Am I the only one who thinks this is crazy?

Saturday, January 3, 2015

This Is Not Sustainable


It has gotten a little frosty this week in sunny California. I know, it's nothing compared to what folks Back East and in the Mid West are going through. But, winter is back in town.

This Is Not Sustainable
By Paul H. Betancourt
January 2015

            Looking at last year’s posts it seems pretty apparent to me that you all prefer my rants on policy and politics to my stories of life on the farm. Maybe one of the publishers I turned down was right after all.] Fair enough. I am still going to tell stories of life on the farm, but we will start this year with something I have been thinking about for a while.

            One of the driving principles of our environmental friends is “sustainability.” Of course there is no agreed on definition of sustainability. The general idea is that we should not do things that deprive future generations natural resources.
            Fair enough. I like the idea that we want to build for future generations. The Boy Scouts taught us to leave things better than we found them.
            That being said $17 Trillion dollars of national debt is not sustainable!!!

            When I teach about fiscal policy in my American Government class I put the national debt clock up on the wall. I mark the national debt at the beginning of class
and leave it running while we talk.
            They are shocked that the national debt at $17 Trillion is larger than the national economy, which is only $14 Trillion. They get bug eyed when I remind them that means if we tax everyone at 100% for a year we still would not pay off the national debt.
            Eventually some one asks, “what is their plan to pay this off?” When I tell them the plan is for them to graduate, get jobs, and start paying taxes, some will respond, “That’s not a very good plan.” I agree.

            As a farmer I have a fair amount of experience with debt. I have been in debt beyond my wildest dreams and it was no fun. There are two main problems with having such a huge national debt-

            1] We have to use money we could otherwise use for good things that now must be used to make interest payments for past spending. [Taking out a mortgage for an appreciating asset makes sense. Going into debt for something like a four star vacation does not.]

            2] We are kicking the debt can down the road to our kids and grandkids.  Even is we stop the horrible deficits right now, it will take decades to pay back the current debt.

            A friend who is a retired community college instructor brushed me off and said, “Don’t worry about the national debt. It’s not important.” Excuse me? Nations can collapse if they mismanage their finances. In this weeks news it was reported that even Greece and England are finally remembering how to tighten their fiscal belts.

Taxing Ourselves

            Years ago I took some heat for not supporting a local school bond. I agreed that we needed the new facilities. What I disagreed on was the method of taxation. The bond was going to essentially fall on the farmers as the largest property owners in the area, instead of the general public. The question in a self-governing society is not, “How much will we raise taxes on someone else?” In a self-governing society the question is- “How much am I willing to pay in support of this our that particular issue?”
                                             
This Is Not Sustainable

            One Irony in all of this is that as a candidate Barack Obama criticized President Bush for creating a $7 Trillion debt. You can find it on You Tube. Apparently I misunderstood. Judging from his actions as President, Obama seems to have meant Bush should have taken us further in debt. He’s gone further into debt than his predecessors ever dreamed of.


            If the idea of sustainability is important enough to drive other public policy we should consider it when looking at our public finances. The bottom lone is our level of national debt is unsustainable. Debt for an emergency or to buy appreciating assets is OK. But, multi-generational operating debt is not sustainable.