Thanksgiving 2014

   Even pomegranates have Fall colors. I never noticed that before. Fall is definitely in the air. It's hard to remember that it was 90 degrees last month while we picked cotton.

   The cotton ground has all been worked. The wheat is in and coming up already. We hope to have it all watered before we break for Christmas. 
   The onion beds are furrowed out. We won't plant until February, but we are getting things ready now. I guess February is going to be busy. We will plant trees behind our house and get the onions planted, along with everything else we do.

   I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving. We went to Phoenix to visit our son, Jonathan. We had a great time. We had a nice ride and a good meal. We got silly like only family can.

We even got Sheryl on my bike, but there is no photographic proof of that.

   The disturbing news this Thanksgiving is apparently now there are Black Friday sales in in Europe. 

http://www.thelocal.se/20141128/swedish-firms-embrace-black-friday-concept

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2014/11/28/367201481/americas-black-friday-craziness-has-crossed-the-pond?sc=17&f=1001&utm_source=iosnewsapp&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=app

    I'm not sure this is our finest moment. Some folks are worried about proselytizing religions. We had a national debate ten years ago about whether we can share democracy. And here we are shipping our worst crazy materialism overseas. The day after we give thanks for what we have, we go into a shopping frenzy for more. Is it just me??? 

    I'm pretty cheap. Making a buck is hard in my line of work and I like a good deal. But, a wise man said there is a time for everything. This is a time for me to stop, give thanks, and catch up with friends and family after the harvest rush. If shopping is your thing, ,y hat is off to you. For me, this is a time for family, friends and some good food. Oh, and of course, to give thanks. We have much to be thankful for, and Someone to be thankful to. This is the kind of holiday that puts things into perspective for me.

I hope you had a great Thanksgiving
and I hope you have a great week.

Faces of the Drought

There is a great Facebook page called Faces of the Drought. This week they featured a farmer from Kerman.

I have been farming here since 1981. My wife’s family has been here for 100 years. We own land here and are invested in the community. Farming isn’t portable. I love California but I hate seeing what we are doing to her. Something most non-farmers don’t understand is that we’re making plans now for next summer’s crop and we have to roll the dice on the water situation. The people who buy my crops don’t care about the uncertainty; I take on all the risk as a grower.#mydroughtstory

An Auction and Entropy on the Farm

There's an old joke about a minister visiting a farmer for Sunday dinner. The farmer had spent years reclaiming some land pulling stumps and leveling the land. Now there were fertile fields in every direction. The minister said tot eh farmer, "You and the Lord have done some pretty nice work here." The farmer's response was, "You should have seen it when the Lord had it to himself."
Ba dump bump.

I live with the miracles of farming on a regular basis, but I can appreciate what that old farmer said. It takes a lot of energy to make a farm go. It reminds me of the Laws of Thermodynamics: there is the tendency of things to go from order to disorder. It takes a lot of energy to keep things from going to disorder and chaos on the farm.

The picture above is from an auction last week. Some neighbors sold out after a lifetime of farming. These guys were excellent farmers who put a lot of energy and intelligence into their farm. In one sense it was sad to see it end. On the other hand, they retired by choice. I have been to auctions after the owner has passed away or lost the farm. There is a sense of real sadness at those auctions.

Next week we will talk about the recent elections and if they make any difference on the farm.

2014 In the Rear View Mirror...

   We got the first wheat field planted this week. We are rocking and rolling to get the next one ready.
   In this picture we are land planing the field. This smooths the bumps and ruts out so we can irrigate more efficiently. Next we will disc, the furrow out.

2014 in the Rear View Mirror

by Paul H. Betancourt

copyright November 2014

            “What would [the drought] have been like if we did not have access to ground water?”

                                                          Dr. Richard Howitt

                                                          Professor Emeritus UC Davis

Water

            The dominant issue in California agriculture this year, of course, has been water. Former UC Davis professor Dr. Richard Howitt reported that this year 17,000 jobs have been lost and there have been $2.2B in production losses. Howitt;s question is, “What would [the drought] have been like if we did not have access to ground water?” That is a key question.

            I find it frustrating and ironic that the same year the cut off surface water activists and our friends in Sacramento discover, “Oh, you have a groundwater problem.” Excuse me, THAT”S WHY WE PUT IN THE SURFACE WATER SYSTEMS DECADES AGO! (Sorry, I told you I was frustrated.) We realized a long time ago we could not increase production with the risk of over drafting the groundwater aquifer. With amazing foresight and working with slide rules those guys created an amazing and effective surface water system.

            We did pass a water bond this year. Now we will see if we squander that opportunity, or build for the future.

Other Issues

            Of course there have been other issues in Ag this year. At the conference hosted by Fresno State’s Center for Agricultural Business earlier this month two other issue were highlighted: Immigration Reform and Food Safety.

            Regarding food safety, let’s be clear: our food supply is safe. The issue is documentation. The government and buyers are demanding more and more documentation from growers.  While food safety is everyone’s concern, the pendulum is starting to swing too far. One friend is doing the right thing. He and his wife are growing organic produce. She spends her summer selling at various farmer’s markets in the area. But, he is ready to quit because he is spending over five hours a week just filling out paper work. Another neighbor grew his first crop of cherries last year. He was given three, three inch thick three ring binders to fill out.

            As I said above, the pendulum is swinging too far. An organic food activist from the Bay Area asked what he could do to help farmers. I said, “Get the documentation  down to one binder.” We know we are going do have to do reports. But, how many of you have time to fill out repetitive reports? I thought so.

            Food safety is a serious concern. As a farmer I want you to be confident that the food you are eating safe. Paper work is not reality. Reality is what happens in the fields.

            Immigration reform is a political hot potato in Washington. President Bush tried to make reforms, but was shot down by members of his own party. President Obama is getting criticized for supporting the Hispanic community on this issue during election campaigns, but failing to make any serious effort after elections. The good news for the Ag community and workers here in the Valley is that this is no longer a farm issue. When the Immigration and Control Act of 1986 passed the issue was agriculture and it was focused in Florida and the states that border Mexico. Now it is an issue in all fifty states, many industries and immigrants from countries other than Mexico. Hopefully with more people and more states involved we can find a solution.

Looking Back and Looking Forward

            So meanwhile, taking a look at 2014 in the rear view mirror. If you have water farming is fabulous. Commodity prices were strong. Production was down in many crops. Almonds, for example, were down 20-30 percent. But, prices pushed up. The real restriction for prosperity on the farm was the issue of water.

            In 2001 Fresno State celebrated the one millionth volume at the Madden Library. California State Historian Kevin Starr spoke at the event. He said the history of the last hundred years in California was the development of the coast and the history of the next hundred years will be the development of the Valley. This year has shown us that If we don’t figure out this water thing, that future will be dry and dusty.

We Got a Little Rainfall...

   That may not look like much to you, but it is a pretty picture for me. Each of those modules contains about thirteen and a half bales of cotton. Since they are safely picked and out of the field it can rain and not hurt the crop. Yay! That feels good. We got grades back on the first bales to be ginned and quality looks fantastic.
   Speaking of rain, we got half an inch at the house last night and three quarters of an inch at the other ranch. That won't break the drought, but it will settle the dust and clear the air.

   We still have another full week of heavy tractor work to do. We got the first wheat field furrowed out before the rain. We will plant that on Monday. Then we have the last wheat field and the onions to prepare. Then we will slow down to full speed. 

Please remember to Vote Tuesday! If you are in my school board district I would appreciate your vote. But, vote vote vote. This all works better if we participate. Our voice is important. I know all the reasons people don't vote and I get it. But, think of these two reasons to vote-

   -"they" think your vote is important. Why else would they raise and spend all that money trying to get your vote?

   - if you do not vote, you give more power to those who do vote. Mathematically their vote has more weight if we don't vote.

So please get out there and vote.

See you next week.