Seedlings

   Well, the President has been gone for a week. That was a lot of hoopla. Frankly I was surprised, and appreciative, by all your comments on my Open Letter to the President that was posted last week. I think we touched a nerve. 
   For those who are new to this blog, I am not always that political. The President's visit was kind of a free throw. Usually I share what has been happening this past week on our farm and maybe tell a story or two from my radio bits.
    Since the President's visit there has been one little piece of news, the Feds announced the initial allocation of water for this summer-zero. This is not the first time they have announced a initial zero allocation. But, unless it starts raining--a lot---soon, this is going to hurt. The last time water was cut back this far 60,000 people lost their jobs. Already, this year, tens of thousands of acres have been fallowed.

I'll keep you posted.

   Meanwhile, back on the farm, it has been another busy week. Usually winter months are the slowest part of the year. By the end of winter I have to find work for the men to keep them busy. Planting a new field of trees keeps everyone busy. The young trees we planted last week are watered  and pruned. We are putting protective cartons around them. 
   We will be getting fertilizer on the wheat and oats before next week's rain. A little rain and a little fertilizer and they will jump.
   As you can see from the picture above the almonds are starting to bloom. Not only is it a sight to behold, but a smell also. I rode the motorcycle to a meeting in Porterville yesterday and there was the faint smell of the almond blossom in each field I passed. I miss that here at the house and I sure look forward to having trees around the house again some day soon.

Seedlings

By Paul H. Betancourt

Copyright March 2014

            I wish I could adequately express to you beautiful seedlings are to a farmer.

            Every time we plant I have to wait a week or two for the crop to come out of the ground. I am on pins and needles waiting. Did we get good seed? Is the weather going to change? Are they going to be healthy? Will we get a complete stand to fill the field.

            And finally they start poking their little green heads out of the ground and I can relax. Seedlings look so beautiful, especially in the early morning light.*

            By the time we plant we have already made months of planning and preparation. We have made choices on our crop rotation. We have ordered seed. We have worked the ground. Then the big moment arrives.

            Timeliness is usually an issue at planting time. I only have one shot to get it done right. Yes, you can re-plant, but it costs time and money.

            A lot of energy goes into planting. Then you wait, and wait, and sometimes wait some more. Finally the little green seedlings pop out of the ground, you know you are off to a good start, and it is beautiful.

I hope you all have a great week.

Almond Planting and A Presidential Visit

   It's been a busy week. I didn't make it to the Farm Show because we planted twenty acres of trees on Thursday. Preparing for that kept me going this week. The process of planting began two years ago when we tore out the old orchard and ordered these trees. 

They come off the truck in bins.
Then we load them on to the planter.

Look at them go.
They don't look like much now...

...and it will take a few years before they are producing.
   The first thing we did was heel them in. Then get them watered right away in those furrows you see here.. We will prune them next. Then we will add some fertilizer and give them lots of tender, loving care. This is a thirty year investment and we want these trees to be strong and happy.


   In other news, President Obama came to town to talk about the drought in California. I am not nearly a big enough fish to meet with the President. I did, however, throw in my two cents in an open letter to the President that was printed in the Fresno Bee and the Fresno Business Journal.

An Open Letter to President Obama-

First, Mr. President, thank you for coming to the Valley. This is important to us, and to all Californians. There is nothing like having leaders out in the field seeing things for themselves.

Mr. President, this is a multi-year problem that requires multi-year solutions.

We have been short of rain for a few years. It is catching everyone’s attention right now because it is affecting our cities, not just our farmers.

This is a political problem, not a technical problem. When President Theodore Roosevelt led in the creation of Western irrigation projects he said, the purpose of these projects was, “reclaiming the waste areas of the arid West…and creating new homes upon the land” (Roosevelt 411). Our predecessors built a system to take care of our water needs and we have mis-managed it. President Kennedy was here for the ground breaking of the San Luis Dam and spoke of how important this was for the citizens of the Valley. Now that reservoir is being squeezed off by the federal government.
           

If you want to know why we are suspicious of the Federal government you only have to look as far back as the Central Valley Project Improvement Act (CVPIA). The CVPIA took water from the irrigation system for the environment and promised to restore the capacity to the system within ten years. Twenty years later we are still waiting.

The 1998 Nobel Prize in Economics went to Amartya Sen who proved that famines were caused by governments, not by natural disasters. Sen wrote, “droughts may not be avoidable, but their affects can be” (Sen 123).

There are wet years and there are dry years in California. We are foolish because we do not save water from the wet years for the dry years. In 2009 we cut off water and the University of California reported 60,000 people lost their jobs. Howitt, et al).

A few years ago we had 160% normal rainfall. Farmers only got 80% of their water supply and 27 million acre feet of water ran out in to the ocean. Imagine what we could have done if we had saved even ten percent of that water.

Your administration is concerned about climate change. One way to lower our carbon foot print is to grow food near where it is consumed. There are over thirty million consumers within a few hundred miles of Central Valley farms. Help us secure our long term water supplies and we can help millions of people lower their carbon footprints by growing self, healthy and affordable food here in California. But, we need a reliable water supply.

This drought is a multi-year problem that will require multi-year solutions. In my book, Ten Reasons: Finding Balance On Environmental Issues, I make the case that we need a healthy environment and a healthy economy. Yes, let’s care for the environment. But, let’s feed and clothe our people too. We must manage our system so we can capture more rainfall during the wet years for the dry years.

Cordially,

Paul H. Betancourt
Kerman, California

Howitt, Richard, et al., http://ewccalifornia.org/reports/MeasuringEmploymentImpacts-092909.pdf

Roosevelt, Theodore, Theodore Roosevelt: An Autobiography, New York,

            De Capo Press, 1985.

Sen, Amartya, The Amartya Sen and Jean Dreze Omnibus, New Delhi,
            Oxford University Press, 1999.

I hope you all have a great week.

P

Farm Show Time Again!

   Winter is back in town. It has been cold and wet the last few days. It's not enough to break the drought, but it's nice.
   Of course, it has interfered with field work. But, we need rain so bad we will take it whenever it comes. When the fields dry out we will fertilize the almonds. The end of next week we will plant twenty acres of almonds. 
   The oats are finally coming up. I was starting to worry. It is to thin to photograph, but I can see little green sprouts. That always looks beautiful to a farmer.

It’s Farm Show Time Again

By Paul H. Betancourt

Copyright February 2013

                  It’s farm show time again, and a young farmer’s thoughts turn to --- new toys. OK, even old farmer’s thoughts turn to new toys.

            The farm show is one of the first signs of Spring. You know I like cooler weather, but by now most of us are thinking that’s enough of that, it’s time for warming up. Here in the Valley the farm show is one of the first signs of Spring. Next, the almond and fruit trees will start blooming. There is a lot of unsettled weather ahead, but the days are getting longer and Spring is on its way.

            Farm equipment is pretty amazing. The engineers and inventors who create new farm equipment are some of the most creative problem solvers in the world. We all owe them a lot. They have eliminated a lot of drudge work. They have helped increase our food supply as well as the variety of food available to us. They are true innovators and my hat’s off to them.

So, it’s time to head to Tulare, look at new equipment and find some good Barbecue. You don’t think we go just for the tractors do you?

I hope you all have a great week! 

Recycling on the Farm

Well, it finally rained. That felt good. It didn't solve the drought problem, but it did settle the dust and cleared the air. Now we will wait for the next storm.
   In the meantime we will finish watering the wheat up this weekend. Yes, even though it rained we still have to irrigate. There was only a quarter inch of rain.

   If you look carefully at the odometer you can see I turned 400,000 miles on my pickup this week. When it comes to 'reduce, recycle and reuse' farmers are experts. We have to be. There is never enough to waste on the farm. 

Recycling on the Farm

By Paul H. Betancourt

Copyright January 2013

The mantra from our environmental friends is, “Reduce, recycle and reuse.” We’ve been doing that on the farm forever. There has never been enough to waste on the farm. I have tractors that are forty years old. Ironically, the enviros now want me to trash those tractors and buy new ones. What happened to ‘reduce, recycle and reuse’?

 We rebuild hydraulic cylinders. We rebuild engines. Last winter we rebuilt the transmission on a forty year old tractor. We are constantly recycling on the farm. I have rebuilt farm equipment that was old when I got here over thirty years ago.

Please don’t get me wrong-recycling is a good thing. I use cloth bags at the grocery store and take my own mug to the coffee shop. Maybe instead of lecturing us with their ‘new’ ideas, folks can take a lesson from the farm and look at the long view when it comes to recycling. Which is better in the long run.? Rebuilding old equipment, or buying new stuff in the name of one dimension of the problem?

“Reduce, recycle and reuse” is not something new on the farm. It has been a way of life for a long, long time.

I hope you all have a great week.

P