The San Joaquin Valley, that great swath of land in California's interior, is often referred to as the ‘agricultural center of the world'. One of the most productive agricultural areas, it produces everything from fruit, vegetables, cotton, nuts, beans, dairy products, and wine. Go into the grocery store and you will see the labors of the San Joaquin Valley farms.
The San Joaquin Valley also has the second worst air basin in the U.S., second only to Los Angeles. However, the San Joaquin Valley's topography - it is surrounded by mountain ranges on either side - means that the pollution has no where to go, unlike Southern California. Partly contributing to the pollution are the many pesticides sprayed on crops. The environmental group, Earth Justice puts the percentage of pollution caused by pesticides at 21 percent.
Sustainable agriculture in the San Joaquin Valley will help clear the air. According to a study by UC Davis, sustainable agriculture "integrates three main goals--environmental health, economic profitability, and social and economic equity." The 1990 Farm Bill, also known as the Food, Agriculture, Conservation, and Trade Act, defined it as meaning "an integrated system of plant and animal production practices having a site-specific application" that "enhance environmental quality and the natural resource base upon which the agricultural economy depends."
USDA awards Fresno State a $250,000 grant
Recently, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) awarded California State University, Fresno, commonly referred to as Fresno State, a $250,000 grant for organic agricultural research and education. The three-year award from the USDA's Hispanic-Serving Institution Education Grant Program will establish Fresno State's organic farming initiative under the Sustainable Agroecosystems and Efficient Resource Management program, part of the College of Agricultural Sciences and Technology.
"This grant is most timely and will help us expand our capacity to do research and train students in organic farming and sustainable agriculture," says Dr. Sajeemas Pasakdee, soil scientist/agronomist in the California Agricultural Technology Institute at Fresno State.
"This provides us with a year-round production facility for organic seedlings of various herbs and vegetables that we sell at the Gibson Farm Market and plant on our farm," Dr. Ganesan Srinivasan, director of the university's farm operations said.
In 2004 Fresno State's plant department started a .8-acre plot for organic vegetable production. The land was recently certified organic.
FarmOn California
Ron Wilkinson and Darice Nishihara began a project they dubbed FarmOn California, a nonprofit group that helps protect small farms. The goal of the group is to "keep California green by keeping agriculture thriving in the Central Valley.
"There's the organic movement, the small-farms movement, the locally grown produce movement and several others. Some of these farmers end up competing with each other, like, 'My idea is better than your idea.' We're trying to take all these positive messages and get them to work together and to not be so competitive," Wilkinson said.
"The legislative process is the other reason we got into this," he added. "Small farmers don't have the political muscle at the state level to protect or ease some of the rules and regulations that come down on agriculture. We're not experts, but from general knowledge, it's apparent that we're the most heavily regulated ag industry in the country. We should use that as a benefit when selling to consumers, to let people know that we're the most responsible farmers in the country."
Using less pesticides
The third largest crop in California are wine grapes, which are grown on 529,000 acres of land. The crop generates $2 billion per year. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) invested $234,000 in grant funding from 2001 to 2004 to support the wine grapes transition to more sustainable practices. The Lodi-Woodbridge Winegrape Commission growers, in the northern San Joaquin Valley, reduced the amount of winegrapes treated with propargite by 55 percent and simizine by 72 percent.
In 1992 the Lodi-Woodbridge Winegrape Commission created the Lodi Winegrower's Workbook in 1992. The goals of the workbook were to provide growers with a roadmap to achieving sustainable winegrowing, provide growers with a means to measure their level of adoption of sustainable winegrowing practices, and document the level of sustainable winegrowing adoption in the region.
According to the Commission's web site, Lodi winegrower's believe that using sustainable farming practices will protect their land and community, and "produce higher quality wines more reflective of the place and people that grew them."
Three-quarters of the world's almonds are grown on 575,000 acres in the Central Valley (which includes the Sacramento and San Joaquin Valleys). Almond exports were valued at $1.5 billion in 2003. The EPA invested $518,918 to help almond growers use sustainable practices. As a result, almond growers reduced their use of organophosphate pesticides by 77 percent.
San Joaquin Valley farms going solar
Located in Fresno County, P-R Farms installed PV panels to the roof of its packinghouse in 2005. Half of the cost was paid by the California electricity company Pacific Gas & Electric (P.G.&E). In ten years it will "reach full payback" although it cost Ricchiuti $3.2 million, according to an article posted on Environmental California.
"It's the right thing to do for the environment and for controlling my energy costs in the future," owner Pat Ricchiuti told the California Farm Bureau Federation. "We have the square footage on the roof to accommodate it. Other (renewable energy) sources require other kinds of programs and do not utilize the environmental benefits as well as solar. This is the cleanest form of energy there is. There are no emissions. We felt it best suited our needs."
Joe Coelho, owner of Terra Linda Farms in southwestern Fresno County, installed a 60,000 kilowatt solar power system on the roof of his onion packing shed. The system will provide about nine-tenths of the packing shed's electricity, and during the months when the shed is not used, it will put electricity into the power grid and they will be paid for that electricity by P.G.&E.
According to Paramount Farms in Kern County (the southern end of the Valley), it is the world's largest vertically integrated supplier of pistachios and almonds. It also owns a 1.1 megawatt solar energy plant which generates enough electricity to power "about 300 average homes."
"Paramount Farms, a leader in the farming community, is committed to a balanced green strategy, one that utilizes clean energy to reduce costs and improve efficiency," said Dave Szeflin, vice president, operations, Paramount Farms. "Today we're pleased to break ground on the first phase of a long-term, comprehensive, solar-power initiative."
