Farming in the San Joaquin Valley and Southern CA,( from Larry the farmer)

For the past week we have traveled through the Central and Southern Coastal farm regions of CA.  The soil is rich in minerals but there is little rain

, so irrigation is a must.  According to which report you read CA has been in drought condition for 7-9 years.  Since most water comes from the winter snow and the snow is only 25% of normal the drought is on for at least another year.  Add another bit of bad news, most of the water used for irrigation comes from the big CA ditch ( a large cement trough that brings water from the North of CA, where the CA State Government has had to cut water availability more than half since 2008).  So look for the cost of fruits and vegetables to increase as the drought grows deeper.

 

 Strawberries are everywhere, large fields and are picked by hand so the fields have lots of manual labors.

   Strawberries are on a raised bed covered in white plastic.

                               Lettuce, not iceberg but Romain.

  

                                   Fields in the background are covered in plastic.  Pacific Ocean is just over the hill.  Many of the strawberries are grown within 3-4 miles of the ocean.

                                                                      Cauliflower

                                          Getting ready to plant.

   Broccoli Harvest, a one time harvest, lots left in the field -a bit old or young.

  This broccoli was being harvested and packed for oversees shipment.  First grading is done by the cutters on the ground then the ladies that are packing the boxes may discard some, but it is a quick visual grading process.
     Sat, Sun ,Mon we are in the Joaquin Valley, lots of Fruit Groves, dairies, both cattle and goats.  The dairy cattle and goats are kept in dry lots (no pasture) it looks like a beef cattle feed lot until you see the milking barns, and there are super large pole barns to provide shade  (but not a tree in sight)
  Lots of cotton grown here until 20 years ago now wheat and vineyards.