While we may complain sometimes about all the snow we should be thankful we are blessed her in the Great Lake region to have plentiful water.
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Drought spurs Calif. farmers to slash planting
'It's ugly,' one grower says as tomato, melon and almond crops face hit
SAN FRANCISCO - Some of the nation's largest farms plan to cut back on planting this spring over concerns that federal water supplies will dry up as officials deal with the drought plaguing California.
Farmers in the Central Valley said Thursday they would forego planting thousands of acres of water-thirsty canning tomatoes and already have started slashing acreage for lettuce and melons.
As growers in Fresno and Kings counties prepared to sow their dry fields with tomato seeds this week, the giant water district that supplies the irrigation for their sprinklers warned them to think again.
Computer models of the state's parched reservoirs and this year's patchy snowfall showed shortages so extreme that federal officials could slash supplies down to zero, managers at the Westlands Water District told their members in an emergency conference call.
"We thought it was important to talk to our growers so they can make important planting decisions," said Sarah Woolf, a spokeswoman for Westlands, the coalition of giant agribusinesses in the state's fertile interior.
Too late?
Officials with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and the state Department of Water Resources plan to announce next month how much water they'll speed to farms and cities.
But farmers say that's too late, since they need to decide what to plant now, as they negotiate with banks for crop loans. Growers who are struggling to revive shriveled vines and dying trees say they're panicked at the thought of having to solely rely on well water of dubious quality.
"It's ugly," said Shawn Coburn, who grows 1,000 acres of almonds in Fresno County. "I've heard from probably eight to 10 guys whose lines of credit are frozen until they can show they have water."
Coburn said he is abandoning tomatoes and will use his brackish well water to try to keep vineyards and almond orchards alive. Other growers are choosing instead to let their nut trees go dormant, which has meant less work for the beekeepers who travel to central California each year to pollinate orchards.
Desperate times
Farmers' decisions to fallow thousands of acres during last year's drought cost $260 million in crop losses statewide, as well as hundreds of jobs. In the tiny farm community of Mendota, in the heart of Westlands farming country, the unemployment rate is nearly 40 percent, city officials report.
Elissa Lynn, a senior meteorologist with the state water agency, said the forecast so far suggests conditions will not improve this spring.
"It's pretty clear we're heading into the third dry year in a row," Lynn said. "We've only gotten one-third of the rainfall we desperately need, and we're already halfway through the winter."
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28808767/
Why you should consider growing your own vegetables & fruit
awful scary for the farmers and the consumers '0(
Gloria
Last time this country faced a depression and a drought was the dust bowl days. My friends have laughed at me for putting so much into the garden and poultry and canning and freezing. Now they look at their grocery bills and the quality of their food and are reconsiddering. I think every yard is big enough for a garden. I even grew tomatoes and herbs in window boxes in an apartment in New York City. I once got in touble in Navy Housing for planting a garden in my yard. They said if I planted one, then other people would want to and then what would happen. I said "We would have gardens?" What's wrong with that?
People need to get off their butts and get involved! If you grow more than you can use, give it to someone else. Utilize the resources we have and stop depending on someone else to provide our food. Welfare ought to start with a shovel and a pack of seeds.
One more thought. We need more small farmers and less agribusiness!
jylgaskin ; I'm with you on the welfare thing some people NEED the help I'm all for helping but I also know people that its a way of life ;0( hand up not hand out
what happend to the city gardens you know like when we were kids and on Tuesday -Friday and Saterday every one went and tended there 10x10 plot that was fun every one viseted and had a lunch ?? I loved to go
Gloria
I think we need more community education. Most people don't even know where to start to plant a garden or grow food. I personally think it should be required in high school and the kids could even tear up some of that useless lawn and grow veggies right in the school yard. The cafeteria could use the fresh veggies and make better quality lunches.
I know the prison in Standish has vegetable gardens and the prisoners work it. They use the food to offset the cost of feeding the prisoners.
I'm all for city gardens and training people. I think once most people get into gardening they like it. We do need to get back to the Earth and learn to grow some or all of our food. Look at all the recalls on food and how many are getting sick. At least when you grow your own food you know what you're eating.
The media and politicians could go a long way to emphasizing the need for food plots and have programs on television teaching people how to do it.
One resource we are blessed with in Michigan is plentiful water supply. While we may groan at all the snow it translates to water which is worth more than gold if and when there is drought. We will be able to grow food here and in other parts of the country their gardens will just burn up from the heat and lack of water. Water is necessary for life. We are blessed.
Keep spreading the word to friends and relatives to think about starting a garden. Even if they just grow a few tomatoes in pots on the patio to get started. Indoor herb gardens are a good way to start too.
I think one of the first things they should do where the water is scarce is turn off the spigots at the golf courses and commercial properties. They are enormous water wasters with their greens and lawns and decorative ponds. My brother will cringe at this, he works directly with Jack Nicklus building golf courses around the world. He has told me about the one in Shouth Africa especially where the people outside the gates do not have water to dring, but they are pouring it all over the ground on the course. It is a sin, if you can water a golf course, you can water crops.
This water crisis is just annother example of American corperate greed. Here in Michigan it is driving me nuts that farmers are pulling out orchards and crops to put in vinyards. Wine brings in more money than food. Excuse me? Food should come first. I understand the farmer wanting to make more money, but here we are growing grapes for expensive wines with no nutritional value while people here and over the rest of the world go hungry. Something is wrong. We grow grapes and then import our food from china. WHere are our priorities?
I'm glad you posted this article, thoes of us who garden, need to get our seeds early this year. We noticed last year that by planting time, a lot of seeds were completely sold out and vegetables for transplanting were gone really early. I had to go to some pretty expensive nurseries to replace tomato plants that I lost in a late frost. Several places commented on the fact that they sold more veggie seeds and plants than ever before.
Now, it the weather would just give us a little hope for spring....
The farmer's almanac is calling for an early spring. I hope they're right.
I remember that late frost last year. We managed to save almost all our plants by putting empty milk jugs with the bottom cut out over them. I had a couple garbage cans full of them. I use them to water my plants out where the hose won't reach. When I heard about the frost comeing hubby helped me cut the bottoms out and then we put them over almost all the plants. We put sheets over the rest. THe ones with sheets didn't do as well. We put empty flower pots and bushel baskets.........anything we could find to protect them. I sure hope we don't get a repeat of that this year. I saved all those jugs and have them stored in the old barn. Better to have them and not need them than need them and not have them. :)
Last year I did get out to the nursery early to buy plants. I had to keep them in the garage for a few weeks since it was too cold to plant them out. This year I am starting all mine from seed under a plant growing unit out in the bunkhouse. I ordered heirloom seeds last fall. Some we direct sow like beans and squash and cukes. We should have a bumper crop of asparagus this year. I can't wait. I love that stuff.
I agree that the wasting of water is a sin and should be stopped. We place too much value on perfectly manicured lawns and the golf courses and car washes etc. All the chemicals are going into our water supplies and poisoning our fish etc. We need to make a lot of changes in our actions and thinking or we won't have a good Earth to live on for very long.
Brenda
With California on the coast with lots of water in the ocean, why or why haven't they built desalization plants to make the water suitable to drink. Yes it's expensive, but if you have no water, you haven't got a choice. Israel has had desalization plants for years and so has a lot of other countries. We can't always rely on mother nature to supply our water. Resevoirs would work too, but then you need rain to fill them.
I agree. It's too bad they didn't invest in that type of system before the state went broke.
In today's Dave's Garden newsletter there is a great article about White House history of gardening. I found it interesting how previous presidents were big into gardening and vegetables etc. I hope the White House gets back to that to set an example for the rest of the U.S.
Brenda
one of the most important things is to have the knowledge to grow your own. Whether you want to or not its good to know for that just in case scenario. Things are getting bad and could get lots worse. I wish i was in a position to buy a farm and go off grid. i would raise my own animals for eggs, meat, fibers, and manure. Grow my own veggies for food and produce my own electricity. If only i had the money!!!
i now this is a little off subject however I soo know what you guys are talking about! I am 23 years old and started a garden last year for my first time with great success( thank you DG :) ) I come from a family with farming in my blood. However I never thought to grow my own veggies. My generation is soo confused. I mean Wal Mart mise well change their name to The Evil Empire and as far as I am concerned we all complain about them taking over while the mom and pop shop closes its doors unable to compete. There should be courses in high school more on econ and how to succeed in life. I mean I can learn all the english and read all the poems and do all the geometry, but bottom line is that when most students graduate and go on to college soo many that I met when I went to Northwood my freshman year of college ( business school mind you) cannot even balance their checkbook, don't know how to sweep and scrub a floor, you ask them how to plant a garden they might just flake out.
I am not saying I don't shop at wal mart. If something there is significantly cheaper I will go there, however I do not buy groceries there. It is hard but I think we need to rethink a lot of things when it comes down to it. I mean really who wouldn't take a fresh garden tomatoe over one that spent a week in transport and sat on a shelf in a store?
I agree lynchl! I wish that when i was in high school they taught more about life and taking care of ourselves. Sure a lot of that is our parents job too but a little help in class would be nice. Especially about finances. checking, saving, credit cards! No one mentions a thing about credit cards in high school but whats the first thing kids do when they get to college? Credit cards!!! I got two just to pay for my college books.
My children (when i have some) are going to live off the land, earn and save their money and really appreciate where things come from.