johnholland's blog

I got an e-mail today about TV chef Alton Brown’s new campaign about salt. Yes, salt, which comes in kosher and several other forms, as I learned from being married to The Bee’s food writer. So why is it in the Farm Beat blog? Because without salt, many of the crops from the valley wouldn’t taste so good. Think of almonds, tomatoes, cheese, sweet potatoes, etc. The campaign is co-sponsored by Cargill, which has produced salt in the mudflats around San Francisco Bay (part of our bioregion, right?) Learn more at www.salt101.com.

The buildup has already started for the World Ag Expo, a February event in Tulare that’s billed as the biggest farm show on Earth. This includes the announcement of the top 10 new pieces of farm equipment. No. 1 is a GPS-equipped steering system for tractors. That’s followed by a harvesting bin inverter and a portable cooling station for farm workers. All great ideas, especially the last one. But I was most struck by No. 4, something called the Gripple T-Clip. You can use it to quickly fasten barbed wire to fenceposts. It’s nice to see that something so simple can make agriculture easier. And I’ve heard it said that the 19th century invention of barbed wire may have been the most important event in the settlement of the West, as it made it possible to confine cattle on big spreads.

Today’s oddball e-mail comes from a group called SuperGoat.org, which promotes goat milk. The occasion is the release of “The Men Who Stare at Goats,” a movie about U.S. military personnel trying mind-control techniques against potential enemies in the 1970s. This includes, yes, trying to kill goats by staring at them. The e-mail quotes a Sonoma County milk producer eager to set the record straight. “Even though the movie portrays goats as susceptible to mind control experiments, in real life it would be quite the opposite. Once you look into a goat’s eyes, it’s more likely they’ll have control over you,” said Jennifer Bice, Owner, Redwood Hill Farm & Creamery, home to 350 goats, and Founding Member of SuperGoat.org. “Goats are sweet, loving, intelligent creatures who contribute much to society.” The e-mail goes on to note that goat milk has many health benefits and that it is consumed in greater volume worldwide than cow milk.

I’ll be writing at length next week about Dave Wilson Nursery, which will be inducted Nov. 12 into the Stanislaus County Ag Hall of Fame. This company near Hickman is a major producer of fruit and nut trees for commercial growers. This is the third time in six years that the inductee will come from the nursery industry. Burchell Nursery did it in 2007, fruit breeder Floyd Zaiger in 2004. This reflect the special place that the county holds in agriculture. Not only does it produce a lot of fruits and nuts; it produces a lot of the trees that produce these crops in California and beyond. It’s a combination of having the right climate for nursery production and some pretty savvy people working in this field.

Heifer International, a global aid group that has a demonstration farm near Ceres, suggests an alternative to giving gifts to your gifted-out friends and relatives. Instead, you can make donations in their name and help Heifer provide livestock to poor people around the world. As the news release puts it, "Soon, your goat, cow, pig or water buffalo will be delivered to a family in need, minus the tape, ribbons and bows, and it will be welcomed with smiles, laughter and the outpouring of joy that accompanies one of the best gifts a family could ever receive - a gift of hope and opportunity that will help them build a self-reliant future." It's a clever twist on Heifer's admirable mission - giving people livestock that will help them feed their families and make a living, rather than just sending monetary aid. And it's nice that it has a local twist. Learn more at www.heifer.org.

Tuesday's storm certainly was a nice start toward a decent rainfall year, but it might have come at a cost. The rain came in the middle of the walnut harvest, and the ground needs to be dry so they can shake the nuts off the trees. From what I've heard so far, there won't be major problems if it's sunny in the next few days. The almond harvest is just about done, so the rain likely didn't do much. And the nuts that got wet can go into dryers before processing. A bigger worry is what the wind might have done. The trees still have their leaves, so they catch the wind "like a big sail," as one industry person told me. That could mean broken limbs or entirely toppled trees. On balance, it was probably good to have the rain and snow because it will soak into dry watersheds, allowing later storm water to run off into reservoirs.

I looked at the back label on my olive oil at home to see where it was made. Spain, Italy, Portugal and Turkey was the answer. I mention this because I am working on a story about the emerging olive oil business in California. The producers, some of them in and near Stanislaus County, see great potential for oil with the California name, rather than the generic Mediterranean stuff on my shelf. The effort is mainly in the high-end market so far, but it’s possible that the everyday oil market will thrive too. We have the right growing conditions. And only 1 percent of U.S. consumption is oil from within our borders. Look for the story Sunday.