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| Like some salt with those Onions |
With over 3000 miles (4828 Km ) of canals and drains, delivering 3.1 million acre/feet (3.8 million/mega litres) it is no wonder that the Imperial valley is the largest irrigation district in the United States. There is a great mix of farming practices there dealing with salinity . It is quite striking to see salt white on the ground beside healthy crops. In fact, without irrigation the land will gradually form a salt crust.
Dean Currie and Khaled Bali looked after me down there and I was given the opportunity to meet several growers in the area.
Spreckels Sugar Mill was very interesting. The factory processes sugar beet and are the only ones in California remaining viable to do so. Ron Tharp is the Ag. Manager there and showed me some of the land they are trying to recover. He has 2 million tons of "Beet Lime" that he is hoping to find a home for. "Beet Lime" is what is left after they use lime in the process for extracting sugar from the beet pulp. He is trying to prove that adding "Beet Lime" to their salt effected land will not raise the Ph any further. Soil Ph in the area is quite high. With 13% organic matter in the "Beet Lime", I would love that stuff on my acidic soils.
On the side of the factory silos half way up, there is a line marking sea level. A reminder that the whole area was once under water and the salinity they have there is indigenous and not imported.
I took the drive past the Salton Sea, this is where all of the drainage water from the Imperial valley ends up and is very controversial is the salinity there is basically sea water. It is one of the largest bodies of water by surface area in the US. I continued to Palm Springs and through to Yucca Valley making my way to Barstow. I've never seen so many wind generators in one place, all squeezed into the valley. It was an amazing sight.
From Barstow, I went past Edward Air Force Base (not that you can see anything it's all hidden from the road) and the grave yard for aeroplanes in the Mojave dessert. It's something to see all sorts of passenger planes parked in one spot mothballed, awaiting there fate. I made the climb out of Mojave and over to Bakersfield where I had arranged to stay with Blake Sanden. Blake is the Farm Advisor for Kern County and was instrumental in getting Pistachios established in the area after seeing them growing in salt effected land in Syria. His trial work irrigating them with 5 d/sm water and also working with composts containing human waste on lucerne proved very interesting. Blake's knowledge on all things salty was outstanding and he is a credit to the farmers in his area.
After Bakersfield, I moved north to Fresno where I met with Sharon Benes (Soil science), Jeff Mitchell (Cropping Systems Specialist), John Diener (Red Rock Ranch) and Chaim Schneider. Chaim was installing a wireless irrigation controller for Worth Farms which operates 8000ac. Chaim was responsible for the development of automated irrigation when he worked for Motorola over 30 years ago. Chuck Herrins Jr is a partner in the operation of Worth Farms and told me they will have 100% drip with full automation on their farm by the end of 2010. Tomatoes and chick peas on beds were the bulk of the crop rotation I saw.
As I drove around the area, it stood out how many new drip systems are going in all throughout the region. The local water district providers are covering 25% of the cost of a new system. San Juan Ranch near Firebaugh, managed by Daniel Burns, was doing the same thing. Their contract for processing tomatoes this year is 250,000 ton, nearly the total Australian crop!
As I headed North to Stockton I spent an enjoyable day with Chuck Rivara (Tomato Research Institute) looking at some bed forming equipment made by Wilcox. Wilcox is not unfamiliar with Aussie Tomato growers, Dennis Moon (Nuffield scholar) imported one some time ago. It allows you to bed form into almost any soil and trash with one pass.
Dean Currie and Khaled Bali looked after me down there and I was given the opportunity to meet several growers in the area.
Spreckels Sugar Mill was very interesting. The factory processes sugar beet and are the only ones in California remaining viable to do so. Ron Tharp is the Ag. Manager there and showed me some of the land they are trying to recover. He has 2 million tons of "Beet Lime" that he is hoping to find a home for. "Beet Lime" is what is left after they use lime in the process for extracting sugar from the beet pulp. He is trying to prove that adding "Beet Lime" to their salt effected land will not raise the Ph any further. Soil Ph in the area is quite high. With 13% organic matter in the "Beet Lime", I would love that stuff on my acidic soils.
On the side of the factory silos half way up, there is a line marking sea level. A reminder that the whole area was once under water and the salinity they have there is indigenous and not imported.
I took the drive past the Salton Sea, this is where all of the drainage water from the Imperial valley ends up and is very controversial is the salinity there is basically sea water. It is one of the largest bodies of water by surface area in the US. I continued to Palm Springs and through to Yucca Valley making my way to Barstow. I've never seen so many wind generators in one place, all squeezed into the valley. It was an amazing sight.
From Barstow, I went past Edward Air Force Base (not that you can see anything it's all hidden from the road) and the grave yard for aeroplanes in the Mojave dessert. It's something to see all sorts of passenger planes parked in one spot mothballed, awaiting there fate. I made the climb out of Mojave and over to Bakersfield where I had arranged to stay with Blake Sanden. Blake is the Farm Advisor for Kern County and was instrumental in getting Pistachios established in the area after seeing them growing in salt effected land in Syria. His trial work irrigating them with 5 d/sm water and also working with composts containing human waste on lucerne proved very interesting. Blake's knowledge on all things salty was outstanding and he is a credit to the farmers in his area.
After Bakersfield, I moved north to Fresno where I met with Sharon Benes (Soil science), Jeff Mitchell (Cropping Systems Specialist), John Diener (Red Rock Ranch) and Chaim Schneider. Chaim was installing a wireless irrigation controller for Worth Farms which operates 8000ac. Chaim was responsible for the development of automated irrigation when he worked for Motorola over 30 years ago. Chuck Herrins Jr is a partner in the operation of Worth Farms and told me they will have 100% drip with full automation on their farm by the end of 2010. Tomatoes and chick peas on beds were the bulk of the crop rotation I saw.
As I drove around the area, it stood out how many new drip systems are going in all throughout the region. The local water district providers are covering 25% of the cost of a new system. San Juan Ranch near Firebaugh, managed by Daniel Burns, was doing the same thing. Their contract for processing tomatoes this year is 250,000 ton, nearly the total Australian crop!
As I headed North to Stockton I spent an enjoyable day with Chuck Rivara (Tomato Research Institute) looking at some bed forming equipment made by Wilcox. Wilcox is not unfamiliar with Aussie Tomato growers, Dennis Moon (Nuffield scholar) imported one some time ago. It allows you to bed form into almost any soil and trash with one pass.
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| Off set planting with salt wicking to the right |
I moved up to Woodland next. I had made contact with Derek Chamberlain to take me through the Morning Star tomato processing plant at William. This is the world's largest tomato processing plant and churned out 1.26 million short ton of paste. The plant will consume 617 ton of tomatoes an hour with an average of 14,000 ton a day. It would be quite something to see in operation and I'd love to see it working in season.
From Woodland, I took the drive down to the very pretty town of Davis. I had a meeting with Steven Grattan, my last contact for the trip. I was keen to meet Steve as he and Blaine Hanson helped me out with a list of who's who in California salinity. I have found all my contacts to be very forth coming in their knowledge, helpful and generous with their time and some have become good friends.
From Woodland, I took the drive down to the very pretty town of Davis. I had a meeting with Steven Grattan, my last contact for the trip. I was keen to meet Steve as he and Blaine Hanson helped me out with a list of who's who in California salinity. I have found all my contacts to be very forth coming in their knowledge, helpful and generous with their time and some have become good friends.
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| Napa Valley |
On the road again from Davis, I made my way to Napa. Beautiful is a good word for this valley. World famous for it's wines it was another interesting form of agriculture. Most wines have to contain over 80% Napa Valley grapes to qualify as a "Napa Valley Wine". The road from Napa north to Yountville and Saint Helena is wall to wall Winery outlets with most owning small parcels of land right on the main road with the bulk of their crop production located elsewhere in the valley.
After Napa, I travelled along the winding roads of the west coast to San Francisco where I will fly out of the country.
It has been a great learning experience for me on many levels. I'm beginning to understand some of the 2009 scholars who claim the Nuffield experience is a life changing one.
After Napa, I travelled along the winding roads of the west coast to San Francisco where I will fly out of the country.
It has been a great learning experience for me on many levels. I'm beginning to understand some of the 2009 scholars who claim the Nuffield experience is a life changing one.
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