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Strawberries pre-Chocolate Dipping, a photo by santa barbarian on Flickr.

Santa Barbara County produced agricultural crops valued at nearly $1.2 billion in 2011, a slight decline from the previous year but still the sixth straight year the total exceeded $1 billion, according to the county Agricultural Commissioner’s Office.

Strawberries were the top crop, with a gross value of more than $366 million, followed by broccoli at $126.8 million and wine grapes at almost $77 million. - Noozhawk

Labels: Agriculture, California Agriculture, Farms, Santa Barbara, Strawberries

From Barry Estabrook's eye opening piece over at the Atlantic.

Should you ever want to see firsthand how completely dysfunctional our modern food system is, I urge you to hop a flight to Santa Barbara, California.

That's just what I did late last month to attend the annual Edible Institute, a conference organized by Edible Communities, a network of several dozen magazines that celebrate local food. 

If ever there was a group of Americans that should be able to eat locally with neither effort nor sacrifice, it's the 425,000 residents of Santa Barbara County, about 90 miles north of Los Angeles. Santa Barbara County grows commercial quantities of more than 50 vegetables, everything from artichokes to zucchini. Apples, peaches, oranges, lemons, and melons are among the more than 25 varieties of fruits raised there. There's beef, pork, and chicken. All of which can be washed down with a terrific bottle of local Pinot or Chardonnay.

Given this abundance and a year-round mild climate, it didn't surprise me to learn from David Cleveland, a professor at the University of California Santa Barbara who gave a presentation at the institute (PDF), that Santa Barbara ranks among the top 1 percent of American counties for agricultural production, with annual sales of $1.2 billion. Nor did it surprise me that 99 percent of what is grown in Santa Barbara is exported: a box of Santa Barbara mandarins currently sits on the counter of my Vermont kitchen.

But then Cleveland dropped a statistical bombshell: In this land of plenty, overflowing with all manner of great local food, fully 95 percent of the fruits and vegetables consumed in the county are shipped in from elsewhere. "Picture two produce-laden tractor-trailers passing on the highway," he said. "One bringing food into the county; the other hauling it out."   - The Atlantic

Labels: Agriculture, California Agriculture, Edible Santa Barbara, Fancy Food, Santa Barbara

Here in Santa Barbara, I have always felt blessed with the amount of local food provided at local Farmer's Markets and various stores. Imagine my surprise and shock to find that Santa Barbara County "IMPORTS" more than 95% of it's fruits and vegetables.

The county ranks 24th nationally in the value of its agricultural production – $951 million in the 2007 ag census. The county, which has 11 farmers markets, ranks No. 2 in broccoli and cauliflower, 6th for lettuce and 24th overall in the category of vegetables, melons, potatoes and sweet potatoes. If local veggies aren’t enough for you, try the pistachios, grown in the Sierra Madre Range that rises above the Pacific. Lemons, oranges and grapefruit grow in the heart of city of Santa Barbara, including on the grounds of the city’s famed 18th century mission that overlooks the ocean. Restaurants offer local swordfish.

But more than 95 percent of the fruits and vegetables consumed in the county are brought in from elsewhere, said David Cleveland, a professor of environmental studies at the University of California-Santa Barbara. Meanwhile, 99 percent of what the county does produce goes elsewhere, according to his research.

And oh yes, here in this land of plenty of fruits and vegetables,four in 10 adults are households classified as food insecure.  More than half of adults are overweight or obese. - DesMoines Register

We have GOT to change this.

Labels: Agriculture, California Agriculture, Edible Institute, Food Imports, Santa Barbara, Vegetables

Labels: Agriculture, Environmental, Santa Barbara County, Solvang, TGIF

The subject property is a rare opportunity to acquire 1.5 Million square feet of greenhouse space on 45 pristine acres of agricultural land in Carpinteria, California.

This unique property has tremendous 101 Freeway presence and visibility which adds to the prestige of this asset. The property features a 300 gallon a minute well, a 2,000SF refrigeration area, and a 40,000SF packing warehouse. Currently, the property is used to cultivate , grow and sell orchids flowers on a mass level and also on an individual basis at the property's retail store. A buyer can continue to run the orchid business which would provide a great income stream or the buyer can produce a different product at the site. The property also has great long term potential as a future development site for commercial or residential use. - LoopNet

Labels: Agriculture, business, Carpinteria, For Sale, LoopNet

Labels: Agriculture, avocado, California Agriculture, For Sale

Labels: Agriculture, farmers, farming, local, USDA, YouTube

The Web site was launched by the Heath & Human Services and Agriculture department’s Food Safety Working Group and is part the administration’s emphasis on prevention in public health, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said in announcing the service.

People can go to the Web site and sign up to receive email and RSS alerts on recalled or potentially unsafe food, ask questions of scientific experts across government and listen to podcasts or view videos on food safety. - Government Health IT

Labels: Agriculture, FDA, food safety, HHS, Recalls

It could get a lot easier to reduce the amount of sugar in your diet, if some of America's biggest food companies are to be believed.

Several giant food producers sent a letter to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack warning that the U.S. might "virtually run out of sugar" of the country didn't reduce import restrictions on the increasingly expensive commodity, according to a Wall Street Journal report Thursday. - CBS

Labels: Agriculture, Food, Food Imports, Sugar

Since its adoption 44 years ago, the California Land Conservation Act, popularly known as the Williamson Act, has grown into the state's most important farmland protection program. The Williamson Act has served California very well, but it is facing its most significant challenge due to the ongoing state budget crisis.

In addition to protecting one of our state's most valuable resources—our agricultural land—other significant benefits of the act must also be recognized and appreciated for their contribution to our quality of life: the protection of our precious watersheds; the availability of and access to a local, safe and affordable food supply; wildlife habitat; and the beautiful landscapes that are so important to all of our citizens.

...In addition to its significant impacts on the state and local economies, the Williamson Act is widely appreciated by those in the environmental, agricultural and business communities, as well as by state and local government officials, as one of the most important environmental laws ever adopted in California. It has encouraged good land use planning and prevented leapfrog developments that can be devastating to agricultural and natural resources.- California Farm Bureau Federation

Program benefiting farms and ranches gutted.

...Under the Williamson Act, landowners sign 10-year contracts with the county that allow ranchers and farmers to pay property taxes based on what they produce on their land, instead of charging them the same taxes residential landowners pay.

The state then reimburses the counties the difference.

As a result, county governments - not farmers - will initially see the effect from the funding cuts, said Assemblyman Jim Nielsen, R-Gerber.

..."That's discretionary dollars," Lees said, meaning the money can be used for just about anything.

Bundy said most ranches and farms under Williamson Act protection might be temporarily safe from drastic tax increases because of the 10-year contracts. But he was quick to add that he didn't know for sure.- Redding.com

...Farmland preserved by the Williamson Act takes more of the world’s primary greenhouse gas — carbon dioxide — out of the air than any other program now contemplated. More than the proposed tailpipe emission changes and carbon-trading programs proposed as ways to carry out the landmark 2006 AB32, the most aggressive anti-climate change bill ever passed anywhere. More than scrubbing every smokestack in California. More than all proposals to clean up ship- and truck-caused emissions from all California’s ports put together. - Ventura County Star

Now, more than ever, we need to support our farmers...our farmland...our open spaces our environment... because they are endangered more than ever.

Labels: Agriculture, budget, California Agriculture, farmers, farming, Farms, Governator

Labels: Agriculture, farmers, farming, Milk

brings in the bucks. Too bad the developers have their minds set on paving it all up and turning in this verdant land into unaffordable condos.


Berry Berry Good Season
Originally uploaded by santa barbarian.

Labels: Agriculture, California Agriculture, Santa Barbara, Strawberries

Labels: Agriculture, Hawai'i, Monsanto, Public Health, seeds

Holy guacamole! An avocado shortage is looming next spring.

California farmers expect to harvest the smallest avocado crop since 1990 and possibly even as far back as 1980. Hot weather in June, at just the wrong point in the growing season, is responsible for the shortfall. - Latte Times

Labels: Agriculture, avocado, Chocolate, food prices, shortages

...9000 new homes are built south of Orcutt, 1300 up on Harris Grade Road and 295 are built at Seabreeze across Central Avenue from the Lompoc Regional Wastewater Treatment Plant. On the City of Lompoc Web page....3600 residences listed as under construction or approved in the Lompoc area that are expected to produce an estimated 36,000 new vehicle trips per day. - The Lompoc Record.

...If owners of working farms and ranches are required to pay property taxes based on their land’s residential or commercial valuation, they usually have no choice but to sell the land to developers. A 1965 California law known as the Williamson Act helps preserve farms and ranches by allowing those who enroll in the program to have their land taxed at a rate based on actual use, not potential use.

Buried in Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's budget plans for next year is a small but truly bad idea. He wants to save $40 million by canceling a farmland preservation program.

He thinks he can dump the costs on rural and suburban counties, a favorite gambit of Sacramento budget balancers. In this case, however, he will unhinge a successful State plan that rewards agriculture and local government for staving off sprawl.

At issue is the Williamson Act, designed to give farmers and ranchers a break on property taxes. Counties are reimbursed by Sacramento when they lower property taxes for agricultural land. The idea is to remove a temptation to shut down operations and sell to the highest bidder, namely developers. For 40 years, the program has meant that Marin County hills, Sonoma County pastures and Contra Costa County vistas are dotted with crops or cows, not subdivisions. - SFGate

California Department of Conservation statistics show that between 2002 and 2004, Fresno County lost 11 agricultural acres a day. Kern County lost 9 a day, Merced 4, Stanislaus 8, San Joaquin 5 and San Diego 10. Kings and Imperial both lost the equivalent of 6 acres a day during that period.

Statewide, the Division of Land Resource Protection, a branch of the Department of Conservation, said urban land expanded by nearly 93,000 acres between 2000 and 2002, as documented by the Farmland Mapping and Monitoring Program. The very best farmland, an irreplaceable natural resource, decreased during that time frame by nearly 50,000 acres, equal to about 74 square miles. - California Farm Bureau

California has been the nation's top agricultural state in cash receipts every year since 1948. - California Farm Bureau

Labels: Agriculture, Farmer's Markets, Government

I firmly believe that people have a right to know that what they are eating and what they are feeding their children is safe. That is one of the reasons I initiated Country of Origin Labeling last year as a pilot project for fresh vegetables and produce with the Alabama Grocer's Association. We know where everything we buy comes from, whether it's clothing, a big screen TV, or a car. With so many food products coming into our country from around the world, I believe people should have the information they need to choose where their food comes from. Many food products from other countries are completely safe, but even the very small potential of tainted food requires us to diligently protect our food supply.

We must demand that other countries provide us with products that live up to the standards we have in the United States. If we do not allow a potentially harmful substance to be used by farmers and producers in our country, then other countries should not be able to send their tainted products to us. It is that simple. While the potential for a serious outbreak is small, it is not a risk I am willing to take with the health of Alabama's families.

Labels: Agriculture, Alabama, food labeling, food safety