<![CDATA[Grist - Comment Feed for Drought, fish, and our fruit-and-veg problem]]> Grist Comment Feed en Comment #1 by chrisbrandow http://www.grist.org/article/2009-05-12-drought-fish-veg/ Tue, 12 May 2009 13:34:10 -0700 http://www.grist.org/article/2009-05-12-drought-fish-veg/1 for some of the crops, yes, you are right, we should reduce, but in *many* of the cases you cite, I doubt that it is likely.  artichokes for example are not just confined to CA production, they are confined to a 10 square mile area centered in Castroville CA, because they grow so so well there.  and with lettuce, where else can you grow lettuce 365 days a year without getting too hot or too cold, too dry or too humid.  and again, lettuce is not simply confined to CA, it is confined almost entirely to the Salinas valley.  Strawberries: see winter; peaches.  I agree they should be spread out more, but once an area like ca has a climactic advantage due to mild winters making early production possible, it is just so easy to add a few (hundred, or thousand) more acres of later maturing varieties as well.


I think of it like this during winter, CA is 100% production of many crops, so if during the summer all else is equal and CA is only 50% of production, then overall, CA is ~75% of production.  With most crops its tough to get around that reality.


]]> for some of the crops, yes, you are right, we should reduce, but in *many* of the cases you cite, I doubt that it is likely.  artichokes for example are not just confined to CA production, they are confined to a 10 square mile area centered in Castroville CA, because they grow so so well there.  and with lettuce, where else can you grow lettuce 365 days a year without getting too hot or too cold, too dry or too humid.  and again, lettuce is not simply confined to CA, it is confined almost entirely to the Salinas valley.  Strawberries: see winter; peaches.  I agree they should be spread out more, but once an area like ca has a climactic advantage due to mild winters making early production possible, it is just so easy to add a few (hundred, or thousand) more acres of later maturing varieties as well.


I think of it like this during winter, CA is 100% production of many crops, so if during the summer all else is equal and CA is only 50% of production, then overall, CA is ~75% of production.  With most crops its tough to get around that reality.


]]> Comment #2 by Avelhingst http://www.grist.org/article/2009-05-12-drought-fish-veg/ Tue, 12 May 2009 15:15:49 -0700 http://www.grist.org/article/2009-05-12-drought-fish-veg/2 The silliest problem in this whole mess: the water for the farms and cities and irrigation districts doesn't come, legally, from the Delta but from storage reservoirs way up the Sacramento River and related network.  The water is released into that river and makes its way down to the Delta, where gargantuan, science-fiction Year 3000 sized pumps suck up water.  The currents generated from this pumping has long been known to be one of the most severe dangers to the Delta's ecology (in years when water supply isn't QUITE such a problem). 

So: first job is to take the water supplying cities and irrigation districts in the project area and move it AROUND the Delta and avoild the mess in the Delta; then, only two almost insurmountable problems would remain - insuring enough water reaches the Delta so that estuarine functions continues and keeping toxins from accumulating in said water in amounts damaging (either acutely or chronically).

Moving fruit and vegetable production back to areas of demand instead of areas with the cheapest water and land and labour is a highly challenging initiative... I encourage the author to check out the efforts of the Northwest Agricultural Business Center and look at how they address the shortages of labour, processing facilities, and land that can frusturate even the most innovative farmers.

 

]]> The silliest problem in this whole mess: the water for the farms and cities and irrigation districts doesn't come, legally, from the Delta but from storage reservoirs way up the Sacramento River and related network.  The water is released into that river and makes its way down to the Delta, where gargantuan, science-fiction Year 3000 sized pumps suck up water.  The currents generated from this pumping has long been known to be one of the most severe dangers to the Delta's ecology (in years when water supply isn't QUITE such a problem). 

So: first job is to take the water supplying cities and irrigation districts in the project area and move it AROUND the Delta and avoild the mess in the Delta; then, only two almost insurmountable problems would remain - insuring enough water reaches the Delta so that estuarine functions continues and keeping toxins from accumulating in said water in amounts damaging (either acutely or chronically).

Moving fruit and vegetable production back to areas of demand instead of areas with the cheapest water and land and labour is a highly challenging initiative... I encourage the author to check out the efforts of the Northwest Agricultural Business Center and look at how they address the shortages of labour, processing facilities, and land that can frusturate even the most innovative farmers.

 

]]> Comment #3 by ArlVa http://www.grist.org/article/2009-05-12-drought-fish-veg/ Wed, 13 May 2009 11:15:32 -0700 http://www.grist.org/article/2009-05-12-drought-fish-veg/3 The obvious solution to this conundrum is to eat seasonally and locally...strawberries shipped 3,000 miles in December are unsustainable; ditto for lettuce, which is easy to grow anyway.  Don't even get me started on East Coasters eating California peaches when we've got phenomenal peaches (not to mention berries, apples, pears, cherries etc) here all up the Eastern seaboard!  If more people focused on eating seasonally and paid more attention to where their seasonal food is grown, then perhaps some pressure could be relieved from California's drought-stricken areas (and the chain reaction that follows).

 

]]> The obvious solution to this conundrum is to eat seasonally and locally...strawberries shipped 3,000 miles in December are unsustainable; ditto for lettuce, which is easy to grow anyway.  Don't even get me started on East Coasters eating California peaches when we've got phenomenal peaches (not to mention berries, apples, pears, cherries etc) here all up the Eastern seaboard!  If more people focused on eating seasonally and paid more attention to where their seasonal food is grown, then perhaps some pressure could be relieved from California's drought-stricken areas (and the chain reaction that follows).

 

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