News Detail
Veteran Nebraska farmers shake heads when seeing California crops, water uses
6/24/2009 7:34:18 AM
By LORI POTTER
Kearney Hub
SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Nebraska farmers who've tilled the soil and watered row crops for 50 years or more looked out bus windows and thought they'd stepped back in time.
Siphon tubes hung on the sides of irrigation ditches bordering northern California tomato fields. There were murmurs of memories and stories told of using similar ancient irrigation equipment before gated pipe and pivots took over Nebraska's landscape.
Also seemingly stuck in a pre-conservation era were flood-irrigated orchards and rice fields. No flowmeters were seen on stream or groundwater irrigation pumps.
The Nebraska farmers discussed the wrong-headedness they saw in orchards where above-ground drip irrigation systems had been allowed to run until water pooled around the trees.
They understood irrigation, but needed help from California tour hosts to identify some crops.
Michael Miller of the California Department of Water Resources' Office of Water Education said California has about 260 crops.
"Basically, it's determined by how expensive the water is and how plentiful the water is," he said, pointing to Sacramento-San Joaquin Bay Delta fields around Sacramento that can be double- or tripled-cropped in a growing season.
California water and crop market prices go into farmers' year-to-year decisions about planting or idling their fields.
For example, University of California-Davis Economist Richard Howitt said rice growers could make more this year by selling rice than selling water. He said California is a relatively small producer of rice, but most of its specialty "sweet rice" is exported to Japan.
Miller described the clay and volcanic soils around and north of Sacramento as "perfect for rice, lousy for corn." Yet sweet corn was tasseling in the Bay Delta's peat soils south of the city.
"Tomatoes are where the real bucks are," Howitt said, with 35 to 38 tons of canning tomatoes harvested per acre. He said farmers often use a tomato-corn-other grain rotation, and then "rest" fields in alfalfa.
Other common delta crops include pears, peaches, other tree fruits and nuts, and wheat.
There are mature olive trees along the rural roads, but Miller pointed out small, closely planted trees grown for olive oil. "It's the new yuppie crop," he said.
Many family farmers still sell their fresh produce at community markets or roadside stands. Unique pink signs along the highway north of Sacramento direct visitors to Tony's Fruit Stand near Marysville.
Peaches, apples, apricots, nectarines, plums and lemons are grown on 20 acres of orchards, with vegetables planted between rows. The stand also has nuts, berries, melons, honey and jellies for sale.
It's been at the same site for 40 years and also sells produce from other growers.
Tony LaBarbara said he irrigates from an 80-foot "deep" well. Trees are watered every two or three days initially, and then constantly as the fruit is close to ripe.
Fruit is harvested into mid September. LaBarbara said the keys to flavor are "potash, calcium and sunlight."
His biggest issues are pest and weed control, and input prices. "Fertilizer, fuel and everything is going up," he said.
Miller said California lost 500,000 acres of ag land from 1997 to 2005, but is gaining some in, of all places, Los Angeles. More people are planting crops in vacant lots and other open spaces as community or commercial gardens.
He said it's expensive to farm in Los Angeles, but there's a huge grocery-restaurant market for fresh produce.
California ranks first in ag cash receipts ($36.6 billion in 2007) and leads U.S. production of about 80 crops, mostly fruits, vegetables and nuts. Nebraska is fourth in ag sales, also trailing Texas and Iowa.
The 2007 Census of Agriculture says 28 percent of California's ag products are exported, but Howitt said it's more like 40 percent today.
Nebraskans couldn't help but ask Howitt, "Where are the happy cows?"
He said California's 1.5 million dairy cows mostly are south of the Bay Delta, but dairy farmers continue to be pressured by waste disposal issues and urbanization.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Hub Staff Writer Lori Potter participated in the 2009 Nebraska Water Tour to northern California's Bay Delta Region June 15-18.
