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gnukid
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It's quite easy to say, no large scale productivity can't work and drop it which serves no one.
Consider this point, if we can transport endless plastic bottles of water across the continent, couldn't we build multiple north american water
pipelines from the North to the South.
I have noted industrial solar desal systems as evidence of methods that work and are in practice today, and offered a perspective that notes the issue
is not scarcity, nor lack of method, its transportation of water or system infrastructure as well as mindset. We must stop leaks and gather water in
its form presented as humidity. desal, wells, reclamation and whatever sources we have and use them carefully. The previous posts notes first hand
sources of current installations throughout the middle east which are scalable. Take an hour and do some research, build a test unit, it's fun and
costs very little and you can go away and come back to find a garden full of fruits.
When you begin to rethink what is large scale, it is an extrapolation of small scale. If there are many small systems that work independently
throughout the community, they can supply a large amount of food for local people, and in doing so costs and negative impacts of large scale goes
away, such as transportation, refrigeration, pesticides, big box stores and in turn communities become self sufficient and self responsible.
Certainly transporting food across the world is not of benefit to us and in the process we are giving up quality control and allowing Genetically
Engineered food into our systems that is not of the same quality or nutritional value as locally grown and potentially is of great risk to our bodies.
You must convince yourself what works for you. Personally I enjoy being part of a large family and integrated community, we often eat dinner with more
than 10-20 people, I often collect the food and cook it and know the sources. I choose my personal sources, neighbors gardens and small time gardens.
In fact, as has been pointed out on BN, industry has become very interested in this process of local gardening in Baja. The children of the Walton
family have chosen to live in Baja and are encouraging local family farming with their association NOS and Sabores de la tierra as do Carlos Slim's
family.
There have been articles about the critical strategic importance of (controlling) local food supply, since food is power, if people can grow their own
food they take away the idea of scarcity (fear) and power from external sources. Kissinger said "who controls the food supply controls the people".
Local gardening makes up for more than 10% of current market supply (to stores) Not counting what is being traded and eaten outside of common markets,
and it is expanding, so it's quite possible to reverse these trends of transporting food across the world at increased costs and reduced quality and
have communities serve themselves.
Also be aware that everything you read requires you filter the information, there is a motive behind every message and every word, so when you read a
report that promotes scarcity, consider the motive, means and methods to create scarcity and how to solve the problem for yourself and your community.
http://cscanada.net/index.php/est/article/view/1271
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captkw
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Mood: new dog/missing the old 1
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the big pic !!
hola,,just to through,, in my card's,,,,,does,, anyone on this site,, know about the "north american union" and the road going up thru texas as the
the start of the gig,,it all started with NAFTA....all up thru canada?? K&T
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wilderone
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NAFTA Superhighway - dead, but some of the contractors have built other highway spurs from the same money source.
"Transportation leaders acknowledge failures of TTC-35 project, hint at future I-35 strategies
Oct 7 Written by: Andy Hogue
10/7/2009 3:19 PM
Along with the announcement that TTC-35 is dead at a press release today came a mea culpa of sorts from a Texas Transportation Commissioner.
The Texas Transportation Commission decided this week to pursue a "no action alternative" following the federally mandated environmental study period
and public opinion gathering process for TTC-35.
After noting the public relations failures of the TTC-35 project (a north-south element of the Trans-Texas Corridor, a privately built multi-lane toll
road, railway and utility line network to run roughly parallel to Interstate Highway 35), Commissioner Ted Houghton said there were four groups which
rallied against the project in large numbers -- one of which he said made a "legitimate" case:
1) "Conspirists" who assumed TTC-35 was part of a larger plan to unite Canada, the United States and Mexico into a North American Union government
similar to the European Union.
2) Anti-toll road activists.
3) Anti-immigration and immigration control activists.
4) Landowners whose property value was at risk due to the possibility of land being taken for TTC-35 right-of-way.
"By that blue line on that map (the proposed study area for TTC-35) we tainted that property, and we really didn't understand that until we got out
into that region and listened to those folks," Houghton, an El Paso resident, said. "Those (property owners) are the ones I really listened to --
though we listened to all Texans ... They had a legitimate gripe."
Houghton said the strategy for now is to work in four regional segments to relieve north-south traffic congestion.
"We didn't do a good job of explaining Trans-Texas Corridor," Houghton said. "A lot of it was mostly our fault in how we explained it, and how we
rolled it out. We're not good marketeers here at the Texas Department of Transportation, but we've learned the hard way, and I've got scars to prove
it."
Prior to that statement, Houghton jokingly refered to himself as "the most arrogant commissioner of the most arrogant state agency in the history of
the state of Texas" -- perhaps a reference to comments made by gubernatorial candidate Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison.
Though officials did not have any statistics on how many comments for and against the project were received, it was pretty clear that public sentiment
was generally against the plan.
Amadeo Saenz, chief engineer of the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), said a public input campaign "on a scale never seen before" would be
implemented for future plans to build segments of an alternate north-south route. He said work will soon begin on a "citizens' plan" for relieving
traffic along the I-35 corridor.
Work that has already been done on TTC-35 comes at no cost to the state of Texas, Houghton said, though Saenz added there is a $300,000-$500,000
charge for changing plans, payable to TTC-35 conscesssionaire Cintra-Zachary. There is no fee for terminating the state's contract for TTC-35, Saenz
said.
Roughly $11.8 million has been spent on the environmental study so far, according to a press packet from TxDOT. Today's announcement does not affect
the construction of Segments 5 and 6 of the project, which is a widening of State Highway 130 from Seguin to Austin. It also does not affect I-69
additions or infrastructure improvement.
It will take another three-to-six months to complete the final environmental impact statement. "The blue line won't disappear overnight," Saenz said.
Terri Hall, director of the anti-toll road group TURF (Texans Uniting for Reform and Freedom) said she considered today's announcement a major victory
in the fight against TTC-35, but questions whether the project is dead, yet.
"How does this affect Chapter 227 of the transportation code, that still has the Trans-Texas Corridor in there? ... But I do think at the end of the
day this is a huge defeat for the Trans-Texas Corridor concept that the governor (Rick Perry) put out years before. It's clear that there's no
political support for it. And what cracks me up is that there has never been any political support for any of his toll road projects, frankly!"
Houghton said TxDOT is still committed to expanding I-35 to six lanes between Hillsboro and San Antonio.
"The funds invested in the study of TTC-35 remain a sound investment, as the analyses and citizen comments collected during the review may be used in
the I-35 Corridor Advisory Committee's planning effort, as well as other project-specific planning efforts," a press release for today's event said.
"Congestion on I-35 is a well-known problem, and is one that will certainly grow over time. I-35 appears on TxDOT's list of the 100 most congested
roadways in the state 13 times -- more than any other roadway. An estimated 45 percent of Texas' population resides along the I-35 corridor, with more
people moving here each day."
LSR will, as we always have, keep an eye on this.
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mcfez
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Location: aka BN yankeeirishman
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In recent years, numerous large-scale seawater desalination plants have been built in water-stressed countries to augment available water resources,
and construction of new desalination plants is expected to increase in the near future. Despite major advancements in desalination technologies,
seawater desalination is still more energy intensive compared to conventional technologies for the treatment of fresh water. There are also concerns
about the potential environmental impacts of large-scale seawater desalination plants.
We are in the farming business.....cost of the water dictates the farm future crops. Conservation and recycle of the water resources is critical.
Desalination technologies dont work when the needs are 50 miles inland :-)
Old people are like the old cars, made of some tough stuff. May show a little rust, but good as gold on the inside.
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durrelllrobert
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I recently met a guy down here (forgot his name) that claimed he was in negotiations with Carlos Slim to
finance his patent pending "Micro Solar Electric and Desalinzation Plant" to be installed in all coastal towns/villages in Baja.
Bob Durrell
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Islandbuilder
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This is a very interesting thread, and I really appreciate Gnukids contributions. I have read through the information contained in the links Gnukid
shared, and, unless I missed something, none of these systems seem geared toward providing enough water to support the current farming practices in
the San Quintin valley. I can see them providing emergency water for a family, and therefore could be combined to serve a community (one family at a
time) but none are intended to produce the thousands of gallons needed on a daily basis.
RO systems can produce a great deal of fresh water and have small footprints, but require large pumps that in turn need lots of energy to run.
Evaporative systems can be built using solar power, but these have a huge footprint, displacing level farm land. Condensing systems can also be built
utilizing solar heating, but these can't reach the high temps needed to create the volume of water needed. High heat condensors need, again, high
levels of energy.
I'm sure a solution is out there somewhere, but nothing on the table thus far seems able to provide enough water to support industrial scale
mono-cultural farming. Small family and community gardens, simplifing our food demands to better align with what foods can be locally and seasonally
produced can help some us, but won't meet the needs of large urban areas.
I certainly don't advocate cutting off water supplies, because that would, as Mengano pointed out, starve billions of humans, but we need to address
the problem of dwindling fresh water resources, and I think that it's better to do so in a proactive manner.
As many wars and empires that have been born out of our need for petroleum, they will pale in the face of what will happen when the worlds wells begin
drying up.
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gnukid
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Islandbuilder
This is a very interesting thread, and I really appreciate Gnukids contributions. I have read through the information contained in the links Gnukid
shared, and, unless I missed something, none of these systems seem geared toward providing enough water to support the current farming practices in
the San Quintin valley. I can see them providing emergency water for a family, and therefore could be combined to serve a community (one family at a
time) but none are intended to produce the thousands of gallons needed on a daily basis.
RO systems can produce a great deal of fresh water and have small footprints, but require large pumps that in turn need lots of energy to run.
Evaporative systems can be built using solar power, but these have a huge footprint, displacing level farm land. Condensing systems can also be built
utilizing solar heating, but these can't reach the high temps needed to create the volume of water needed. High heat condensors need, again, high
levels of energy.
I'm sure a solution is out there somewhere, but nothing on the table thus far seems able to provide enough water to support industrial scale
mono-cultural farming. Small family and community gardens, simplifing our food demands to better align with what foods can be locally and seasonally
produced can help some us, but won't meet the needs of large urban areas.
I certainly don't advocate cutting off water supplies, because that would, as Mengano pointed out, starve billions of humans, but we need to address
the problem of dwindling fresh water resources, and I think that it's better to do so in a proactive manner.
As many wars and empires that have been born out of our need for petroleum, they will pale in the face of what will happen when the worlds wells begin
drying up. |
Your reply misrepresents my broad points and distracts from the important various points made in this thread. Your reply reduces the subject from a
broad discussion about water conservation and resources, infrastructure, production technique, alternative and additional water sources for productive
gardens to a discussion about one point--solar desal.
The larger point is that scarcity is a falsified notion since the issue is lack of adequate infrastructure, which is easily resolvable and in fact
increasing sources of water exist for an increasing number of farming solutions far outside the doomsday water scarcity theme that supports
commercial/GMO factory methods.
The summarized point of the abstract about solar water desal system is that water can be produced in large or small quantity at .02/liter.
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gnukid
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Posts: 4411
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| Quote: | Originally posted by wilderone
NAFTA Superhighway - dead, but some of the contractors have built other highway spurs from the same money source.
"Transportation leaders acknowledge failures of TTC-35 project, hint at future I-35 strategies
Oct 7 Written by: Andy Hogue
10/7/2009 3:19 PM
Along with the announcement that TTC-35 is dead at a press release today came a mea culpa of sorts from a Texas Transportation Commissioner.
The Texas Transportation Commission decided this week to pursue a "no action alternative" following the federally mandated environmental study period
and public opinion gathering process for TTC-35.
After noting the public relations failures of the TTC-35 project (a north-south element of the Trans-Texas Corridor, a privately built multi-lane toll
road, railway and utility line network to run roughly parallel to Interstate Highway 35), Commissioner Ted Houghton said there were four groups which
rallied against the project in large numbers -- one of which he said made a "legitimate" case:
1) "Conspirists" who assumed TTC-35 was part of a larger plan to unite Canada, the United States and Mexico into a North American Union government
similar to the European Union.
2) Anti-toll road activists.
3) Anti-immigration and immigration control activists.
4) Landowners whose property value was at risk due to the possibility of land being taken for TTC-35 right-of-way.
"By that blue line on that map (the proposed study area for TTC-35) we tainted that property, and we really didn't understand that until we got out
into that region and listened to those folks," Houghton, an El Paso resident, said. "Those (property owners) are the ones I really listened to --
though we listened to all Texans ... They had a legitimate gripe."
Houghton said the strategy for now is to work in four regional segments to relieve north-south traffic congestion.
"We didn't do a good job of explaining Trans-Texas Corridor," Houghton said. "A lot of it was mostly our fault in how we explained it, and how we
rolled it out. We're not good marketeers here at the Texas Department of Transportation, but we've learned the hard way, and I've got scars to prove
it."
Prior to that statement, Houghton jokingly refered to himself as "the most arrogant commissioner of the most arrogant state agency in the history of
the state of Texas" -- perhaps a reference to comments made by gubernatorial candidate Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison.
Though officials did not have any statistics on how many comments for and against the project were received, it was pretty clear that public sentiment
was generally against the plan.
Amadeo Saenz, chief engineer of the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), said a public input campaign "on a scale never seen before" would be
implemented for future plans to build segments of an alternate north-south route. He said work will soon begin on a "citizens' plan" for relieving
traffic along the I-35 corridor.
Work that has already been done on TTC-35 comes at no cost to the state of Texas, Houghton said, though Saenz added there is a $300,000-$500,000
charge for changing plans, payable to TTC-35 conscesssionaire Cintra-Zachary. There is no fee for terminating the state's contract for TTC-35, Saenz
said.
Roughly $11.8 million has been spent on the environmental study so far, according to a press packet from TxDOT. Today's announcement does not affect
the construction of Segments 5 and 6 of the project, which is a widening of State Highway 130 from Seguin to Austin. It also does not affect I-69
additions or infrastructure improvement.
It will take another three-to-six months to complete the final environmental impact statement. "The blue line won't disappear overnight," Saenz said.
Terri Hall, director of the anti-toll road group TURF (Texans Uniting for Reform and Freedom) said she considered today's announcement a major victory
in the fight against TTC-35, but questions whether the project is dead, yet.
"How does this affect Chapter 227 of the transportation code, that still has the Trans-Texas Corridor in there? ... But I do think at the end of the
day this is a huge defeat for the Trans-Texas Corridor concept that the governor (Rick Perry) put out years before. It's clear that there's no
political support for it. And what cracks me up is that there has never been any political support for any of his toll road projects, frankly!"
Houghton said TxDOT is still committed to expanding I-35 to six lanes between Hillsboro and San Antonio.
"The funds invested in the study of TTC-35 remain a sound investment, as the analyses and citizen comments collected during the review may be used in
the I-35 Corridor Advisory Committee's planning effort, as well as other project-specific planning efforts," a press release for today's event said.
"Congestion on I-35 is a well-known problem, and is one that will certainly grow over time. I-35 appears on TxDOT's list of the 100 most congested
roadways in the state 13 times -- more than any other roadway. An estimated 45 percent of Texas' population resides along the I-35 corridor, with more
people moving here each day."
LSR will, as we always have, keep an eye on this. |
This reply is also a mix of half truths published in the media which result in a false conclusion that NAU is dead, while in fact SPP or Security
Prosperity Pact is in full swing in a incremental fashion.
This has been the pattern of this unification project, deny deny deny and continue.
Do a internet search on Perimeter Security and Economic Competitiveness: Regulatory Cooperation – A Report on the Consultations on Regulatory
Cooperation Between Canada and the United States, SPP or cross border security, cross border policing etc... Do your own homework to see the many
recent steps to unify military and policing along with commercial activity across the borders of North America.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/new-border-deal...
http://pm.gc.ca/eng/media.asp?id=3934
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/with-cross-bord...
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/harper-and-obam...
http://www.globalnews.ca/richer+and+safer/6442537444/story.h...
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/john-ibbitson/f...
http://www.truckinginfo.com/news/news-detail.asp?news_id=754...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9wBl3VXFu8
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/politics/article/1098487-...
[Edited on 1-1-2012 by gnukid]
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Islandbuilder
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Gnukid, I certainly wasn't trying to misrepresent your posts, I was just trying to apply the infomation you provided in the contect of the thread;
Large scale Organic Farming.
I guess I'm missing something. As I read through the infomation that you linked, I see theoretical systems, supported with higher level mathmatics,
and not much more. The solar condensing system prototype used a water heater to provide the temps needed for the system to work. I agree that it
should be feasible to run a similar system with solar heated water, but not for more than a few hours per day. Right? Or am I not seeing something?
I don't think that I'm advocating for or against one solution or another, and I don't understand (what I read to be) your defensive attitude. I think
that I am in agreement with virtually all your underlying points, and I really want to find a practical and sustainable method for desalinization. As
you say, these issues are easily overcome with infrastructure improvement, but I disagree with you that these improvements can be made easily and
cheaply.
Please, be patient with my ignorance, and explain your points. I will try and repeat back as clearly as possible what I'm hearing, and between us
we'll advance the conversation. Without question, providing clean water and good food are worth taking some time and effort to discuss.
Regards.
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woody with a view
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| Quote: | Originally posted by durrelllrobert
I recently met a guy down here (forgot his name) that claimed he was in negotiations with Carlos Slim to
finance his patent pending "Micro Solar Electric and Desalinzation Plant" to be installed in all coastal towns/villages in Baja.
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was his name, "GottaPeso?"
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wilderone
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Registered: 2-9-2004
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gnukid - those links don't have anything to do with building a Mexico-Canada 8-lane toll road through the US or the NAFTA Superhighway. Rather,
highlights recent negotiations having to do with changing paperwork processes at the Canadian border and creating a bi-national security force (good
luck with that). Moreover:
"The perimeter deal is not a treaty – and Mr. Harper and Mr. Obama have signed nothing that irrevocably binds them to do anything.
While this gives Canada flexibility, it also means that bureaucratic inertia can doom the deal. That’s because much of the action plans require
negotiations and fleshing-out by officials in both countries – a hazardous process that can easily fall victim to shifting priorities, such as a U.S.
presidential election."
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wessongroup
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"was his name, "GottaPeso?" 
And Islandbuilder .. your spot on with this one, as it is the most basic.. and important in the end
"Without question, providing clean water and good food are worth taking some time and effort to discuss."
[Edited on 1-2-2012 by wessongroup]
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Pompano
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Don Jorge
The article initially referenced in this thread says, "Manuel Verdugo, 42, began organic tomato farming on desert land in San José del Cabo five years
ago and now owns 30 acres in several locations."
Each acre of tomatoes he grows in the desert conditions he grows in requires 2 acre feet of water. An acre foot of water is 325,851 gallons. 2 acre
feet of water per acre to grow his tomatoes is 651,702 gallons of water per acre.
Multiply that by the 30 acres he farms and the sum of his annual water use is 19,551,060 gallons of water. Almost 20 million gallons for 30 acres of
tomatoes.
The original question and farming sustainably in Baja? They are not farming, they are mining the natural resources that have been deposited over the
course of millions of years. When they play it out they will be gone, leaving behind a weed infested sandscape. When they develop a water storage and
delivery system for the farms they can talk about sustainability.
But, sustainable farming is being done and has a bright and growing future. It is best done in temperate regions with adequate rainfall, storage
capacity and delivery systems.
As much as everyone loves to rag on California, and I have my moments too, California does store water and does deliver it to city and farm. The cost
is rising but as I said earlier, water is a de facto commodity and market mechanisms will dictate where and to whom it flows.
[Edited on 1-2-2012 by Don Jorge] |
George, tsk, tsk...never, never confuse theories by adding actual facts.
Remember, you're not in Ashley here.
A well-worn, but still sage observation: 'You can lead a horse to water...but you can't make him drink.'
In this case, your post of hands-on experience being 'the Water'.
Excuse me, while I slip on my Kevlar.
I do what the voices in my tackle box tell me.
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DavidT
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Think local, act global.
By ELISABETH ROSENTHAL
Published: December 30, 2011
TODOS SANTOS, Mexico — Clamshell containers on supermarket shelves in the United States may depict verdant fields, tangles of vines and ruby red
tomatoes. But at this time of year, the tomatoes, peppers and basil certified as organic by the Agriculture Department often hail from the Mexican
desert, and are nurtured with intensive irrigation.
Growers here on the Baja Peninsula, the epicenter of Mexico’s thriving new organic export sector, describe their toil amid the cactuses as “planting
the beach.”
Del Cabo Cooperative, a supplier here for Trader Joe’s and Fairway, is sending more than seven and a half tons of tomatoes and basil every day to the
United States by truck and plane to sate the American demand for organic produce year-round.
But even as more Americans buy foods with the organic label, the products are increasingly removed from the traditional organic ideal: produce that is
not only free of chemicals and pesticides but also grown locally on small farms in a way that protects the environment.
The explosive growth in the commercial cultivation of organic tomatoes here, for example, is putting stress on the water table. In some areas, wells
have run dry this year, meaning that small subsistence farmers cannot grow crops. And the organic tomatoes end up in an energy-intensive global
distribution chain that takes them as far as New York and Dubai, United Arab Emirates, producing significant emissions that contribute to global
warming.
From now until spring, farms from Mexico to Chile to Argentina that grow organic food for the United States market are enjoying their busiest season.
“People are now buying from a global commodity market, and they have to be skeptical even when the label says ‘organic’ — that doesn’t tell people all
they need to know,” said Frederick L. Kirschenmann, a distinguished fellow at the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture at Iowa State University.
He said some large farms that have qualified as organic employed environmentally damaging practices, like planting only one crop, which is bad for
soil health, or overtaxing local freshwater supplies.
Many growers and even environmental groups in Mexico defend the export-driven organic farming, even as they acknowledge that more than a third of the
aquifers in southern Baja are categorized as overexploited by the Mexican water authority. With sophisticated irrigation systems and shade houses,
they say, farmers are becoming more skilled at conserving water. They are focusing new farms in “microclimates” near underexploited aquifers, such as
in the shadow of a mountain, said Fernando Frías, a water specialist with the environmental group Pronatura Noroeste.
They also point out that the organic business has transformed what was once a poor area of subsistence farms and where even the low-paying jobs in the
tourist hotels and restaurants in nearby Cabo San Lucas have become scarcer during the recession.
To carry the Agriculture Department’s organic label on their produce, farms in the United States and abroad must comply with a long list of standards
that prohibit the use of synthetic fertilizers, hormones and pesticides, for example. But the checklist makes few specific demands for what would
broadly be called environmental sustainability, even though the 1990 law that created the standards was intended to promote ecological balance and
biodiversity as well as soil and water health.
Experts agree that in general organic farms tend to be less damaging to the environment than conventional farms. In the past, however, “organic
agriculture used to be sustainable agriculture, but now that is not always the case,” said Michael Bomford, a scientist at Kentucky State University
who specializes in sustainable agriculture. He added that intense organic agriculture had also put stress on aquifers in California.
Some organic standard setters are beginning to refine their criteria so that organic products better match their natural ideals. Krav, a major Swedish
organic certification program, allows produce grown in greenhouses to carry its “organic” label only if the buildings use at least 80 percent
renewable fuel, for example. And last year the Agriculture Department’s National Organic Standards Board revised its rules to require that for an
“organic milk” label, cows had to be at least partly fed by grazing in open pastures rather than standing full time in feedlots.
But each decision to narrow the definition of “organic” involves an inevitable tug-of-war among farmers, food producers, supermarkets and
environmentalists. While the United States’ regulations for organic certification require that growers use practices that protect water resources, it
is hard to define a specific sustainable level of water use for a single farm “because aquifer depletion is the result of many farmers’ overutilizing
the resource,” said Miles McEvoy, head of the National Organic Program at the Agriculture Department.
While the original organic ideal was to eat only local, seasonal produce, shoppers who buy their organics at supermarkets, from Whole Foods to
Walmart, expect to find tomatoes in December and are very sensitive to price. Both factors stoke the demand for imports. Few areas in the United
States can farm organic produce in the winter without resorting to energy-guzzling hothouses. In addition, American labor costs are high. Day laborers
who come to pick tomatoes in this part of Baja make about $10 a day, nearly twice the local minimum wage. Tomato pickers in Florida may earn $80 a day
in high season.
Manuel Verdugo, 42, began organic tomato farming on desert land in San José del Cabo five years ago and now owns 30 acres in several locations. Each
week he sends two and a half tons of cherry, plum and beefsteak tomatoes to the United States under the brand name Tiky Cabo.
He has invested in irrigation systems that drip water directly onto plants’ roots rather than channeling it through open canals. He is building large
shade houses that cover his crops to keep out pests and minimize evaporation. Even so, he cannot farm 10 acres in the nearby hamlet of La Cuenca
because the wells there are dry.
At another five-year-old organic farm, Rosario Castillo says he can cultivate only 19 acres of the 100 he has earmarked for organic production,
although he dug a well seven months ago to gain better access to the aquifer. The authorities ration pumping and have not granted him permission to
clear native cactuses. “We have very little water here, and you have to go through a lot of bureaucracy to get it,” Mr. Castillo said.
Many growers blame tourist development — hotels and golf courses — for the water scarcity, and this has been a major problem in coastal areas. But
farming can also be a significant drain. According to one study in an area of northern Baja called Ojos Negros, a boom in the planting of green onions
for export a decade ago lowered the water table by about 16 inches a year. “They were pumping a lot of groundwater, and that was making some people
rich on both sides of the border at the expense of the environment,” said Victor Miguel Ponce, a professor of hydrology at San Diego State University.
The logistics of getting water and transporting large volumes of perishable produce favors bigger producers. Some of the largest are American-owned,
like Sueño Tropical, a vast farm with rows of shade houses lined up in the desert that caters exclusively to the American market.
While traditional organic farmers saw a blemish or odd shape simply as nature’s variations, workers at Sueño Tropical are instructed to cull tomatoes
that do not meet the uniform shape, size and cosmetic requirement of clients like Whole Foods. Those “seconds” are sold locally.
Yet the connection to the United States has brought other kinds of benefits. Del Cabo Cooperative, which serves as a broker for hundreds of local
farmers, provides seeds for its Mexican growers and hires roving agronomists and entomologists to assist them in tending their crops without
chemicals. As the American market expands, said John Graham, a coordinator of operations at Del Cabo, he is always looking to bring new growers into
his network — especially those whose farms draw on distant aquifers where water is still abundant.
David Agren contributed reporting.
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captkw
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3850
Registered: 10-19-2010
Location: el charro b.c.s.
Member Is Offline
Mood: new dog/missing the old 1
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serria la luguna
And you think,this new ,push,farming in bcs,is gonna last,,the w/table is the lowest in man's recorded history !!
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vgabndo
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3461
Registered: 12-8-2003
Location: Mt. Shasta, CA
Member Is Offline
Mood: Checking-off my bucket list.
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This actual concept is credited to a guy in the 19teens.
"Think globally, act locally" urges people to consider the health of the entire planet and to take action in their own communities and cities. Long
before governments began enforcing environmental laws, individuals were coming together to protect habitats and the organisms that live within them.
These efforts are referred to as grassroots efforts. They occur on a local level and are primarily run by volunteers and helpers.
The shortsighted use of a regions water is just the opposite. IMO
Undoubtedly, there are people who cannot afford to give the anchor of sanity even the slightest tug. Sam Harris
"The situation is far too dire for pessimism."
Bill Kauth
Carl Sagan said, "We are a way for the cosmos to know itself."
PEACE, LOVE AND FISH TACOS
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