Patience on the Farm

Another busy week on the farm. We cut off water on the cotton. Now we wait for it to mature. 

Almonds are picked up and we started giving them some water. They are very thirsty. The last regular irrigation was July 15th. How would you feel if you hadn't had a decent drink in the summer heat since mid-July? Last year the almonds toasted. We are learning how to use the drip system. This year we gave them a couple of sips during harvest.

In the photos below you can see how much the almonds we planted in January have grown. All we had were sticks and eight months later here you go. The fact that I have two wait two more years before we harvest our first crop reminded me of a radio piece I did years ago.

Patience on the Farm

By Paul H. Betancourt

Copyright September, 2011

I’ll tell you a family secret, I am notoriously impatient. When it comes to making salsa, mine is always chunky. I don’t have the patience to carefully mince everything. But, there are other kinds of patience.

                  Most people think in terms of the work week. That is an industrial model, we think of the work before us this week. That makes sense when you work in industry or in an office. On the farm we think in terms of seasons. Sure, I lay out each week’s work for myself and the men who work for me; but, our real time frame is the year long season.

                  Last year was a bad year on the farm. Crops were a bust and prices were not that good. Last February my daughter asked me when I would know how this year was going to turn out. I told her, “November.” We won’t really know until the last bale of cotton is picked. Sure, the wheat was fabulous and prices are high. The almonds look good and corn prices are near historic highs. The cotton look good, but I have seen that before. Experience tells me I need to be patient. We won’t really know until the last bale of cotton is picked, ginned and shipped.

Even Apple Gets It

Back from vacation.
Over jet lag...finally.

The guys did a great job. Everything is fine on the farm.....except the bugs will not die. Arrrgh.

One of the things I read on vacation was Isaacson's biography of Apple founder Steve Jobs. Did you know Apple has 7000,000 employees in China? 30,000 are engineers. Can you imagine what it would do for California's economy if only half of those jobs were here in the state. Jobs argued with President Obama that there are too many regulations for manufacturers to produce here in the US. Even Apple gets it. It is not just farmers complaining about over-regulation.
    Unlike Apple farmers cannot just move their operations overseas. We are kind of attached to their land. The answer isn't moving anyways. We need safe and sane rules, not this silliness we have now.

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.

Isn’t It Ironic?

By Paul H. Betancourt

Copyright January 2013

                  Isn’t it ironic? Everyone says they support family farms, but environmental and government policy are squeezing out family farmers.

            I make my living producing food and fiber, not going to meetings or filling out forms. But, thanks to government agencies and our environmental friends I get to spend time doing both when I should be out in the field or the shop.

            Large farms can afford to hire environmental compliance officers. I have a friend that does that for a large operation south of here. It works pretty well for them. He takes care of the environmental paperwork, and it is a full time job. But, he works for the same kind of large farming operation everyone says we want to avoid.  

            I am not saying that these things are bad. What I am trying to say is that some of our government regulations and some of our environmental friends are making it harder and harder for family farms to survive. Just keeping the farm going can take everything you’ve got. Adding new stuff to make paper pushers happy can push smaller farmers over the edge. The land will still be farmed- but now it will be by larger operations. Isn’t that ironic?

In case you are wondering- the photo is of me in the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul.