BajaNomad

California! Prepare Yourself For $6 Tomatoes and $4 Lettuce

DavidE - 2-22-2014 at 01:19 PM

A Cut and Paste================================



Central Valley farmers took a crippling blow Friday when U.S. officials made the unprecedented announcement that they would get no irrigation water from the federal government this year because of the drought.

But growers in a region with the country's most productive soil said the loss of one of their chief water supplies won't be their problem alone: Consumers will be hit hard in the form of higher prices at the produce market.

California's unusually dry weather is forcing producers of fruits, vegetables, nuts and grains to make tough decisions about which crops to plant, and which ones not to plant due to a lack of water, leaving harvests that are likely to fall short of demand.

A recent estimate by an industry group, the California Farm Water Coalition, suggested that as much as 600,000 acres of land, or about 8 percent of the state's total, could be left fallow in the coming year.

"Before, when people asked me whether prices would rise, I'd say no," said Paul Wenger, president of the California Farm Bureau Federation. "But over the last two to three weeks, things have gotten so severe that it's got to affect the market."

U.S. Bureau of Reclamation officials said Friday that meager snow and rain in the Sierra Nevada means they won't be able to provide farmers any of the water they normally receive from the federally run system of reservoirs and canals fed by mountain runoff. The system supplies water for about a third of the state's agricultural land.
Snowpack 29% of average

If weather conditions change, the plans may change, federal officials said. But with Sierra snowpack at just 29 percent of average for this time of year, they expect runoff to remain scant and supplies in the Central Valley Water Project to remain insufficient.

"This low allocation is yet another indicator of the impacts the severe drought is having on California communities, agriculture, businesses, power, and the environment," said the reclamation bureau's commissioner, Michael Connor, in a prepared statement.
Farmers still reeling

While the announcement wasn't unexpected, it was more bad news for an agricultural industry in California that is the nation's most valuable, and is still reeling from last year's low water allocations.

The state's agricultural yield was estimated to be worth $44.7 billion in 2012.

In 2013, most Central Valley farmers who contract for federal irrigation water got just 20 percent of their normal water allowance. This year, their allocation is projected to be zero for the first time.

Growers will have to rely on local wells and stored water. Farmers in some parts of the state are in a better position to do this than others.

Officials at the State Water Project - which provides a lesser amount of irrigation water - said last month that they were also likely to provide nearly no water to farmers.
State's driest year

California is coming off its driest year since record keeping began in the 1800s, and the first part of the year has seen little rain. The past two winters have been abnormally dry, too.

Residents and business in many communities also rely on the state and federal water projects, as do wildlife such as sensitive fish populations. They're likely to suffer as well.

In the San Joaquin Valley, the state's most productive agricultural region, many growers have already ceased planting winter crops such as broccoli, tomatoes and lettuce because of the drought. Upcoming plantings of watermelons and cantaloupes also could be cut short.

"I don't know any farm in the area that's not affected by the drought," said Fresno County grower Don Cameron, who runs Terranova Ranch near the small town of Helm.
Valuable well water

Cameron has had to use valuable well water to nourish his carrots and tomatoes, which are normally supported by winter rains. The only good news for Cameron is that he has access to water outside the state and federal systems, meaning he's been able to sustain production.

"Everywhere I look, though, it's field after field with nothing in them and nothing being prepared to grow," he said.

Water experts say growers will direct what limited supplies they have to their most valuable crops. That means high-dollar products, such as almonds and grapes, won't disappear anytime soon while lower value items, like grains, are likely to fall off.
Specialty produce

Specialty vegetables and fruits also may become harder to find.

Jay Lund, who heads the Center for Watershed Sciences at UC Davis, said products from other parts of the world will fill some of the void, easing the impact on price.

"They'll go up a little bit," Lund said. "But I don't think it will be catastrophic. Time will tell."

Cypress - 2-22-2014 at 01:35 PM

Already got potatoes planted; tomatoes, peppers and misc. will be planted as soon as the almanac says it's time. Plenty of rain, the river is approaching flood stage. Way more water than we can use in south MS, but it provides nutrients down in the marsh. The downside? Too much fresh water drives the specs, redfish and flounder out.

Bubba - 2-22-2014 at 03:13 PM

It's very dry here. We've only had 2 less than average rains all winter and it's not looking good for March either.

Hook - 2-22-2014 at 03:22 PM

All right, then!. I can smuggle my heirloom toms back NORTH and help defray the costs of wine smuggling coming south again!!!

Should have about 40 plants this year, after I get done with cloning suckers.

gnukid - 2-22-2014 at 03:38 PM

Except every single californian could grow enough tomatoes for the entire block with the run-off of the kitchen sink.

Grow a garden!

Skipjack Joe - 2-22-2014 at 03:39 PM

I've been paying $5 a pound for heirloom tomatos for about 2 years now. They're worth every cent of that.

aguachico - 2-22-2014 at 03:45 PM

Tomatoes suck big time in CA. I sure miss the big ones from our garden in Pennsylvania.

bajabuddha - 2-22-2014 at 03:48 PM

It's so dry in southern New Mexico, just the other day i saw a fire hydrant chasing a dawg!!
:o

monoloco - 2-22-2014 at 04:08 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by aguachico
Tomatoes suck big time in CA. I sure miss the big ones from our garden in Pennsylvania.
It's because all the commercial varieties have been bred for shipping and shelf life, not flavor As far as I'm concerned, most of the grocery store tomatoes are nothing but flavorless ornaments these days.

bacquito - 2-22-2014 at 04:25 PM

Wow, a box of 24 heads of lettuce could fetch over $100!!

DavidE - 2-22-2014 at 04:33 PM

It's the SPECULATORS who drive prices. Welcome to the wonderful world of greed.

Wanna bet about the same time as Cal Ag prices go up there's going to be a scare about produce from Mexico?

Letters to CA senators years ago about the need for establishing a gigantic pipeline from the Pacific Northwet went into the trash. Politicians are failed lawyers, I never forget that...

Hook - 2-22-2014 at 04:34 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Skipjack Joe
I've been paying $5 a pound for heirloom tomatos for about 2 years now. They're worth every cent of that.


I was thinking about selling some of mine down here. Is that what they go for in the States? :wow:

monoloco - 2-22-2014 at 04:42 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by DavidE
It's the SPECULATORS who drive prices. Welcome to the wonderful world of greed.

Wanna bet about the same time as Cal Ag prices go up there's going to be a scare about produce from Mexico?

Letters to CA senators years ago about the need for establishing a gigantic pipeline from the Pacific Northwet went into the trash. Politicians are failed lawyers, I never forget that...
Yeah, like sending water from the PWN is going to be a real popular idea with the folks in Oregon and Washington who are currently using it.

bacquito - 2-22-2014 at 04:53 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by monoloco
Quote:
Originally posted by DavidE
It's the SPECULATORS who drive prices. Welcome to the wonderful world of greed.

Wanna bet about the same time as Cal Ag prices go up there's going to be a scare about produce from Mexico?

Letters to CA senators years ago about the need for establishing a gigantic pipeline from the Pacific Northwet went into the trash. Politicians are failed lawyers, I never forget that...
Yeah, like sending water from the PWN is going to be a real popular idea with the folks in Oregon and Washington who are currently using it.


But think of it, if the pipline had gone in, the folks in the PNE could then appreciate desert living!!

brewer - 2-22-2014 at 10:25 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by gnukid
Except every single californian could grow enough tomatoes for the entire block with the run-off of the kitchen sink.

Grow a garden!


True that.

willardguy - 2-22-2014 at 10:42 PM

how about just not eating lettuce and tomato?

Barry A. - 2-22-2014 at 11:03 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by willardguy
how about just not eating lettuce and tomato?


That is NOT the preferred alternative!!! :O

Barry

willardguy - 2-22-2014 at 11:12 PM

then what is? pay the price or grow your own? whats the question?

Bob H - 2-22-2014 at 11:27 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by willardguy
then what is? pay the price or grow your own? whats the question?


Spot on! WG....

vandenberg - 2-23-2014 at 08:35 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by willardguy
then what is? pay the price or grow your own? whats the question?


Some folks lack a green thumb and others have no thumb at all. :P:biggrin:

woody with a view - 2-23-2014 at 08:39 AM

supposed to get up to an inch of rain AT THE BEACH this week....

if it's yellow let it mellow.

David K - 2-23-2014 at 08:42 AM

There used to be tomato farms in Carlsbad (they're houses now)... Just drive to Ejido Erendira or San Quintin to see where California tomatoes come from: Los Pinos (Rodriguez Family). :light:

woody with a view - 2-23-2014 at 09:13 AM

i've got 4 heirloom varieties getting ready to put in the dirt. nothing like a home grown tomato. the crap at the store should be free.

Gulliver - 2-24-2014 at 12:55 PM

Fewer people. Period.

Everything else is just re-arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.

Cypress - 2-24-2014 at 01:14 PM

All these cold fronts down here are making it hard, but sooner or later it's gonna stay warm. Sprouting key limes and lemon seeds, tomatoes and peppers are next. High water has put a damper on the fishing, but the river's starting to fall. Wish I could send all this excess water to CA. From what I understand they're anti-pipelines(Keystone?) out there. They might get thirsty before this all shakes out.:D

[Edited on 2/24/2014 by Cypress]

Martyman - 2-24-2014 at 02:14 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by willardguy
how about just not eating lettuce and tomato?


I could go on an all carnitas diet!

willardguy - 2-24-2014 at 02:45 PM

or BLT's missing a couple parts!;)

Here's what happened back east last year but...

durrelllrobert - 2-24-2014 at 05:53 PM

..of course they have plenty of water:

Heirloom Tomatoes Overwhelm Greenmarket -- Lowest Prices This Year So Far

By Robert Sietsema Mon., Aug. 13 2012 at 5:38 PM



At the start of the season in June, prices topped out at $5.50 per pound for vine-ripened heirloom tomatoes, nearly all grown in greenhouses by enterprising farmers. But now that the actual tomato harvest season is upon us (no greenhouse tomatoes here), farmers are discovering that they might have planted too many vines.

Prices have been sinking lower, and today, Fork in the Road spotted a sign advertising $2.95 per pound heirlooms, with eight different varieties represented. Note that this is a maximum, un-negotiated price. As the day wears warmly on, and tomatoes get soft, you'll find you can bargain a better price, especially if you're willing to buy at least a few pounds.

This might sound like heresy, but almost-mushy heirlooms have the best flavor of all, and anything cooked with them turns out spectacular. Of course, you'd be unlikely to cook with tomatoes you just forked over almost $6 a pound for, but what if you got a bag of squishy ones for, say, $2 a pound.
__________________________________________________

This article also says that the average heirloom tomato plant will produce 20-25 pounds a season.

bajagrouper - 2-24-2014 at 08:28 PM

Idea, turn the California Aqueduct off to SoCal and send the water to the growing spots in the central valley.....solves 2 problems at once........LOL

vandenberg - 2-24-2014 at 08:47 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by durrelllrobert
..of course they have plenty of water:

Heirloom Tomatoes Overwhelm Greenmarket -- Lowest Prices This Year So Far

By Robert Sietsema Mon., Aug. 13 2012 at 5:38 PM



At the start of the season in June, prices topped out at $5.50 per pound for vine-ripened heirloom tomatoes, nearly all grown in greenhouses by enterprising farmers. But now that the actual tomato harvest season is upon us (no greenhouse tomatoes here), farmers are discovering that they might have planted too many vines.

Prices have been sinking lower, and today, Fork in the Road spotted a sign advertising $2.95 per pound heirlooms, with eight different varieties represented. Note that this is a maximum, un-negotiated price. As the day wears warmly on, and tomatoes get soft, you'll find you can bargain a better price, especially if you're willing to buy at least a few pounds.

This might sound like heresy, but almost-mushy heirlooms have the best flavor of all, and anything cooked with them turns out spectacular. Of course, you'd be unlikely to cook with tomatoes you just forked over almost $6 a pound for, but what if you got a bag of squishy ones for, say, $2 a pound.
__________________________________________________

This article also says that the average heirloom tomato plant will produce 20-25 pounds a season.


I'm afraid you couldn't give those tomatoes away in California:biggrin::biggrin:

chuckie - 2-25-2014 at 05:13 AM

I was thinking the same thing...hog food in Kansas....

Cypress - 2-25-2014 at 05:35 AM

Those tomatoes might look sorta knarly, but you can bet they taste great.:)

Mexitron - 2-25-2014 at 06:34 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by durrelllrobert

__________________________________________________

This article also says that the average heirloom tomato plant will produce 20-25 pounds a season.


Last time I lived in San Clemente I planted a Brandywine tomato (heirloom variety). I planted it in early February since the chance of frost was pretty slim next to the ocean. By September the vine was 15 feet tall and growing with well over 100 lbs of tomatoes harvested---had to move so don't know how much more it would have produced.

What a tomato! Now how did that expression come about?

Skipjack Joe - 2-25-2014 at 07:06 AM

Sorry guys. Enough eye candy for this morning.

[Edited on 2-25-2014 by Skipjack Joe]

vgabndo - 2-25-2014 at 08:06 AM

I don't know about the reference to women, but clearly: Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit, and wisdom is not putting one in your fruit salad!

I've grown a bunch of Early Girls at 41 degrees north, given time to vine ripen they have great flavor. Forcing the fruit to market seems to be a bigger problem than the strain being grown.

Pescador - 2-25-2014 at 08:39 AM

There would be enough water to take care of the agricultural needs but instead the Federal Government is diverting most of the allocated water to make sure they meet the requirements of the smelt which were put on the endangered species list.

Wish I had been on the decision board, Lets see, some small smelt which have no impact whatsoever, or farmers and their families. Tough choice.:P

DJL - 2-25-2014 at 08:55 AM

Profile of a starving farmer ?

http://mondoweiss.net/2013/07/oligarch-valley-how-beverly-hi...

I'm all for reasonable water allocations , but Cotton and Nuts in the desert really are not sustainable . Not that it matters , since there's no water here anyways ...

D.~

gnukid - 2-25-2014 at 09:15 AM

Lettuce grows in 21 days daily in your yard, if you let some go to flower and seed you get all the lettuce you want, fresh and tasty.

I didn't realize that the proper name for the "Central Vally" was the Oligarch-valley

durrelllrobert - 2-25-2014 at 09:49 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by DJL
Profile of a starving farmer ?

http://mondoweiss.net/2013/07/oligarch-valley-how-beverly-hi...

I'm all for reasonable water allocations , but Cotton and Nuts in the desert really are not sustainable . Not that it matters , since there's no water here anyways ...

D.~




A Journey Through Oligarch Valley

By Yasha Levine


If you've ever driven between San Francisco and Los Angeles on Interstate-5, you know the Central Valley as a place where set you cruise control to 90 mph and gun through as fast as possible. The highway runs in an absolute straight line for 350 sleep-inducing miles, bisecting an endless plane of farmland, orchards, arid dirt, howling winds and spooky rural desolation. Probably the only things you notice are the gas stations and the In-N-Out burger joints are, as well as the periodic regions marked by the foul smell of cow chit that signal the high-density feedlots and slaughter yards that provide that tasty In-N-Out ground beef. That awful smell, by the way, is what inspired Michael Pollan to write his great anti-agribusiness bible, The Omnivore's Dilemma.

But the region is about a lot more than just chitburgers, migrant workers and toxic pesticides. This stretch of the Central Valley should really be called Oligarch Valley. It ain't Park Avenue, so you won't see any huge mansions. But just about all the land running along the highway and as far as you can see to the horizon is owned by a small clique of billionaires and oligarchs, many of whom trace their roots back to the landholdings of America's most notorious industrialist vampires: the Union Pacific Railroad octopus, John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil, the family of belligerent Los Angeles Times publisher Harry Chandler...

[Edited on 2-25-2014 by durrelllrobert]

monoloco - 2-25-2014 at 09:53 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by DJL
Profile of a starving farmer ?

http://mondoweiss.net/2013/07/oligarch-valley-how-beverly-hi...

I'm all for reasonable water allocations , but Cotton and Nuts in the desert really are not sustainable . Not that it matters , since there's no water here anyways ...

D.~
Interesting article and just another reminder of who really controls America.

willardguy - 2-25-2014 at 10:19 AM

cheese and rice, its just a tomato! I think the roma's I buy in the rosarito walmart are delicious. just dont ever refrigerate em :yes:

cheese and rice ????

durrelllrobert - 2-25-2014 at 10:26 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by willardguy
cheese and rice, its just a tomato! I think the roma's I buy in the rosarito walmart are delicious. just dont ever refrigerate em :yes:

my priest always said "cheesy rice, got all muddy"

willardguy - 2-25-2014 at 10:29 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by durrelllrobert
Quote:
Originally posted by willardguy
cheese and rice, its just a tomato! I think the roma's I buy in the rosarito walmart are delicious. just dont ever refrigerate em :yes:

my priest always said "cheesy rice, got all muddy"
:lol::lol::lol:

Pompano - 2-25-2014 at 11:05 AM

Want to be a grower? Want to save lots of money?

Become your own source, have fun, save on the rising costs, and get a tastier product. I know the veggies & fruit all LOOK good in those California markets, but the taste is seldom there. Literally anybody can easily grow your own lettuce, tomatos, etc for salads or whatever. So many folks are doing this nowadays, like these nice people we visited along the way. All it takes is some space and making that first step. I've visited in the 'salad bowl' area many times, got to know some of the operations, and it's a mighty good feeling to be free from the California grower's high prices... and being self-sustaining in these 'iffy' times is not so bad either. ;)

Easy as pie, my family has been growing home-use veggies & fruit since forever... and believe me, they have more flavor than you will find in any grocery store. Being ranchers & farmers for a few generations, this is normal for us, but if you don't know how already, here's a couple quick learning sources.

http://homeguides.sfgate.com/plant-tomatoes-lettuce-27127.ht...





http://www.wikihow.com/Grow-Hydroponic-Tomatoes

Note: for hydroponic tomatoes & lettuce in Baja Sur we used the white enclosed cage (shown lower right) to keep the produce safe from local 'nibblers.' We had some fun with that cage. The enclosure doubled at one time as a coyote's refuge. See 'Lucky the Coyote' thread.







I hope you can adios to those coming high prices....and get some tasty produce to boot. Have fun and bon appetite!
:yes: