Agriculture
Is the California drought America's water wake-up call?
The California drought is not over. The great hope for major replenishment of California's surface and groundwater supplies — the “Godzilla” El Niño — has failed thus far to live up to its super-sized hype, delivering only average amounts of rain and snow, primarily to the northern half of the state.
Average, however, is welcome. Average means that snowpack is visible atop the Sierra, water levels are rising in many reservoirs and a drought-fatigued public is getting a little emotional relief after enduring one “hottest-ever, driest ever” winter after another.
Average also means the State Water Project and the Central Valley Project, California's two major north-south...
Related "Agriculture" Articles
Is the California drought America's water wake-up call?
The California drought is not over. The great hope for major replenishment of California's surface and groundwater supplies — the “Godzilla” El Niño — has failed thus far to live up to its super-sized hype, delivering only average amounts of rain and...
Published in Los Angeles Times on April 17, 2016 — Print headline: "Is the California drought America's water wake-up call? - Even after the drought, the state won't have enough water to do all it wants to do."
EPA bans a pesticide often used on almonds and other California crops
Federal regulators said Tuesday they will ban a pesticide widely used on California crops such as almonds and alfalfa, saying it imperils aquatic insects that are the food source of fish.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday filed an...
In India, a coconut picker takes work hazards in stride
Pandurang Naik scales the equivalent of several mid-rise buildings in an average workday, only without a staircase or ladder. He picks coconuts from the palm trees that dot India's western coastal state of Goa.
Clad in shorts and a dirty tank top,...
Published in Los Angeles Times on February 19, 2016 — Print headline: "For veteran coconut picker, work hazards are part of job - It's a 50-foot climb without harnesses each way, 20 trees each day - On the ground in Akshi, India"
Is that milk past its 'sell by' date? Drink it anyway.
My father used to keep food in the refrigerator for days, even weeks after the “best by” date, so long as it looked and smelled OK. My mom, by contrast, went out to buy a new carton of milk as soon as the date passed. Often there would be two containers...
How the meat industry marks the land -- in pictures
I first came across these feedlots on Google Earth and had no idea what I was seeing. The mass and density of the black and white dots seemed almost microbial. To understand what they were I had to learn about the meat industry and its methods for...
800-square-mile Texas ranch for sale; all yours for $725 million
For sale: the biggest American ranch ever put on the block -- larger than Los Angeles and New York City combined -- nearly 800 square miles of north Texas prairie, cattle pasture and, of course, oil fields.
Price tag: $725 million, more than quadruple...
Why urban beekeeping is right for Los Angeles
On June 10, 1879, Los Angeles lawmakers banned beekeeping within city limits. According to Mark Vallianatos, who teaches environmental policy at Occidental College, their rationale was frankly preposterous. Having noted the affinity between bees and fruit...
50 years ago, Cesar Chavez led a crusade to unite and empower farmworkers
On a Thursday night 50 years ago, at the height of the table grape harvest in California's Central Valley, hundreds of Mexican American farmworkers crowded expectantly into a Delano church hall. Most had worked their usual shifts in the vineyards, and...
Animal abuse whistle-blowers, not criminals
At the request of the Animal Legal Defense Fund and other organizations, a federal judge recently struck down an Idaho law that made it a crime to conduct undercover investigations and videotape operations at an agricultural production facility without...
Fixing the imbalance in access to water
Last fall, farmers working the flat land along the Colorado River outside Blythe, Calif., harvested a lucrative crop of oranges, lettuce and alfalfa from fields irrigated with river water. But that wasn't their only source of income. They made almost as...
Want to help the bee populations? Grow a variety of flowers
The European honey bee was brought to this continent in the early 1600s, but not to pollinate crops. Rather, early settlers sought beeswax to make candles. Native bees, which are mostly solitary ground-dwellers, were effective pollinators but did not...
California agriculture: It's worth the water
Pundits here in drought-stricken California have become fond of proclaiming that farms consume 80% of the state's water and generate only about 2% of its gross domestic product. "Why devote so much of our water to an industry that contributes so little...
Wal-Mart's clout buoys animal welfare
When the giant retailer Wal-Mart recently announced that it would ask all suppliers of fresh and frozen meat, deli, dairy and egg products to its Wal-Mart and Sam's Club stores in the U.S. to abide by sweeping new guidelines for the humane treatment of...
Bug wars: In Utah farm fields it's ladybugs vs. a plague of aphids
James Barnhill has had a front-row seat to a tense natural battle in the farm fields of central Utah.
Due to a drought and record warm winter here, invasive insects called aphids have survived the usually frigid months to ravage alfalfa and wheat crops...
Pickers back at work in Baja California, but animosity remains
The farmworker strike that has crippled Baja California agricultural exports appears to be easing, but labor leaders and industry officials remain at odds and hundreds of protesters on Monday headed to the state capital to keep pressing for higher wages....
Baja labor leaders learned tactics from their efforts in U.S.
Before Fidel Sanchez led protest marches this month against growers in Baja California, he fought for higher wages from tomato farmers in Florida.
Justino Herrera, who dons an Army fatigue jacket during labor talks, once led a work stoppage against an...
12 great recipes for grapefruit
It seems to be a peculiarity of the citrus family that extremely different fruits find themselves grouped under a single name. Think “tangerine,” which includes everything from the pinkie-sized Kishu to some of the new varieties such as the Yosemite...
Why almond growers aren't the water enemy
A quarter-century ago, when I first started farming the fertile ground of western Fresno County, my crop was cotton.
I wasn't alone. Back then, the San Joaquin Valley had more than 1 million acres of white gold. Federal water cost me — hard to believe...
A dozen great recipes for artichokes
Probably 98% of people in America have only eaten artichokes prepared one way – steamed or boiled and then served with mayonnaise or melted butter.
They don’t know what they’re missing.
Sure, those big old heads are impressive looking (growers call them...
Baja farmworkers' strike crimping some produce supplies in U.S.
Farmworkers protesting low wages at Mexican export farms in Baja California timed their strike for the peak of the harvest season, and their bold tactics appear to be having an impact.
Produce industry growers, retailers, shippers and importers on Friday...