The No. 1 Crime Affecting Farmers...

“Virtually every farmer in the Central Valley has been hit.” Alfalfa was left unwatered for 10 days, and $10,000 worth of it withered, almond trees were also left thirsty, as were melons, pistachios and tomato crops, for weeks on end. The culprits were not the typical ones — heat waves, fires or drought — but thieves, who have been stripping the copper wires out of irrigation systems throughout California. More here.

Borrowed Genes On Borrowed Time?

Without U.S. rules, biotech food lacks investors... Some scientists and biotechnology executives say that by having the Food and Drug Administration spell out the rules of the game, big investors would finally be willing to put up money to create a market in so-called transgenic livestock. But others caution that even if the F.D.A. clears the regulatory path in coming months, investors and agribusiness companies might still shy away. “The companies we have spoken to have gone organic, and they are very concerned, at least up to the present time, of having G.M.O. associated with their name,” said Cecil W. Forsberg, a professor at the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada, who helped developed the “Enviropig” with the cleaner manure. Smithfield Foods, for one, the world’s largest hog producer and pork processor, says it is doing no research on genetically engineered animals. Perhaps there's still hope? More here.

Plenty of Garlic in Gilroy, but not farmers

There will be plenty of garlic at this weekend's Gilroy Garlic Festival, but in keeping with recent trends, even less of it will be local. Santa Clara County flexed its garlic production muscle in the early 1990s, harvesting as much as 400 acres, but the flow has slowed to a trickle. Last year, the three local garlic farmers harvested only 67 acres. The explanation, farmers said, comes down to disease (white rot), land-use pressure (subdivisions and box stores) and the brutal economics of the industry (the exodus of garlic production to China--click on image at right to enlarge). More here.

Obese Farm Subsidies Don't Want A Diet

For the many critics of farm subsidies, including President Bush and Speaker Nancy Pelosi, this seemed like the ideal year for Congress to tackle the federal payments long criticized as enriching big farm interests, violating trade agreements and neglecting small family farms. Many crop prices are at or near record highs. Concern over the country’s dependence on foreign oil has sent demand for corn-based ethanol soaring. European wheat fields have been battered by too much rain. And market analysts are projecting continued boom years for American farmers into the foreseeable future. But as the latest farm bill heads to the House floor on Thursday, farm-state lawmakers seem likely to prevail in keeping the old subsidies largely in place, drawing a veto threat on Wednesday from the White House. More here.
Follow up (07.27): Well they passed it, and it's porkier than ever...more here.

Hemp For The Land of The Free

The rocks, the dirt, the cool, wet climate and a devastating crop fungus known as scab are part of what has landed North Dakota, of all states, at the forefront of a political battle more likely to have emerged somewhere “a little more rebellious,” as one farmer here put it, like California or Massachusetts. Though federal authorities ban the growing of hemp, saying it contains tetrahydrocannabinol, the psychoactive substance better known as THC in marijuana, six states this year considered legislation to allow farmers to grow industrial hemp, and Representative Ron Paul, Republican of Texas, introduced a bill in Washington that would let states allow such crops. In state houses, the advocates of hemp note that it contains mere traces of THC, and that hemp (grown in other countries) is already found here in clothes, lotions, snack bars, car door panels, insulation and more. More here.

Assistant Manager of 30 acre Organic Almond Orchard.

Help Wanted: Assistant Manager of 30 acre Organic Almond Orchard.
Required skills:
Maintain micro irrigation system
Keep an irrigation and fertilizer schedule.
Assist in planning and managing the weed program
Operate and keep in good repair large and small farm equipment
Assist with the harvest in August and September
Mulch and compost in September
Prune trees as required
Work with our organic product agent to plan for spraying at bloom in the spring
Hire and manage day laborers as needed.
Compensation:
$25,000 yearly (with month of December as vacation)
Health care benefits
Living space for one person, if desired
Summer working hours 6:30 AM – 3:00 Lunch break 30 minutes
Paid weekly
To be considered Call for an appointment 530-796-4141
Green card required
Working English/Spanish
References

II Docs Almond Ranch
Jane Stallings
Reply-To:

STUDY OF THE WEEK: ORGANIC FARMING CAN FEED THE WORLD

A new University of Michigan study indicates that organic farming is more productive than chemical and energy intensive industrial agriculture. Researchers noted 293 examples in previous studies that corroborate the fact that organic farming is better than conventional, but pointed out that biased studies funded by chemical producers have clouded the public's understanding of the issue. Corporate agribusiness has spent decades repeating the mantra that chemical intensive agriculture is necessary to feed the world. But according to the new report, "Model estimates indicate that organic methods could produce enough food on a global per capita basis to sustain the current human population, and potentially an even larger population, without increasing the agricultural land base." Ivette Perfecto, a professor at the University of Michigan, said of the study, "My hope is that we can finally put a nail in the coffin of the idea that you can't produce enough food through organic agriculture."
Learn more: http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_5996.cfm

EDEN FOODS GOES BEYOND 'USDA ORGANIC'

Eden Foods is one of the few national organic food producers who goes beyond the USDA Organic Standards. Although Eden Foods is USDA certified, their products do not bear the USDA seal, because they say the USDA standard really represents a "minimum standard" that Eden Foods goes far beyond.

Global Warming & Weeds

Only for the combination of C4 weeds and C3 crops does CO2 favor the crop. All other combinations favor the weeds. More on perennial weeds here. Click here for the report on annuals.

GM Fight Heats Up In Europe (After The Fact)

Listen to a head-to-head debate between two leading thinkers, both members of Britain's upper house of Parliament, the House of Lords, after the European Commission raised the "allowable limit" of genetically modified foods in products labeled "organic" from .1% to .9% last week. Audio here.

China's Not Our Only Source of Dubious Food

At a time when Chinese imports are under fire for being contaminated or defective, federal records suggest that China is not the only country that has problems with its exports.
More here.

Your help needed: Tell the US to ban plastic bags!

This just in from my friend Emily who was very influential in getting the San Francisco ban through:

San Francisco's recently passed and soon-to-be-implemented ban on plastic bags has made national news. Now Costco has posted a poll on their e-magazine! The plastic huggers are currently winning at 57%, so please click here and take 30 seconds to say YES!
To participate, click on "pages" at the top of the homepage and then "Page 16" for the poll. It's a little funky but I promise it doesn't take long!
Also, please pass it on! Send http://tinyurl.com/37u783 to your friends!
Thank you, thank you!
Emily

Getting Serious About Food Safety...

...at the expense of human life? Beijing scrambles to show that it is serious about improving the safety of Chinese products. More here.

Strawberries & Bananas

Instead of hanging low in clusters close to the ground, the monophylla berries grow on stiff, upright branches, making them easier to harvest. The plant appears to flower at the same time, with fruit ripening simultaneously. That means berries from the plants could be harvested in one swoop with a piece of machinery...one man's quest for the "perfect" strawberry here.

Also, "This is the first time any case for a banana worker has come before a U.S. court," said Duane Miller, one of the attorneys representing more than 30 Nicaraguan plaintiffs who worked on plantations from 1964 to 1990. The pesticide was designed to kill worms infesting the roots of banana trees on Latin American plantations. But at least 5,000 agricultural workers from Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras and Panama have filed five lawsuits in this country claiming they were left sterile after being exposed...more here.

Two Tales Of Water

One of lack and one of excess.
$$$ quotes:
The region’s most severe drought in over a century has farmers here averting their gaze from a future that looks as bleak as their fields.
vs.
Really, it is a lake of Poland Spring water, conveniently celled off in plastic, extending across 6 acres, 8 feet high. A week ago, the lake was still underground; within five days, it will all be gone, to supermarkets and convenience stores across the Northeast, replaced by another lake's worth of bottles.

Follow up: 07.09.07 New York City embarks on anti-bottled water campaign...more here.

Where's the beef...from?

In every American supermarket, labels tell shoppers where their seafood came from. But there are no such labels for meat, produce or nuts. Behind the contradiction is a lesson in political power in Washington, where lobbyists and members of Congress have managed to hold off the enforcement of a five-year-old law that required country-of-origin labeling on meat and produce as well as fish. More here.