top of page

FWA May 2017 Updates

Agriculture Changes the World

A Facebook post from the Farm Equipment Association in Minnesota had this to say. “Despite all our accomplishments we owe our existence to a six inch layer of topsoil and the fact that it rains.” A video  is floating around social media by former Agriculture Secretary Vilsack, about what our life is like now with modern agriculture is something that should be watched by everyone. Says Vilsack, “We delegate the responsibility of feeding our family to a small portion of the population and because of that we are free to be doctors and lawyers.” We owe our leisure time to the advancement of modern agriculture. We have free time now, because some farmer somewhere is doing the work we all used to have to do each day. We can sip lattes and opine about the fate of the world, because we don’t have to produce the food we need to survive. The work of the agriculture community does more than feed the world it changes the world.


2018 Farm Bill

The 2018 Farm Bill is now underway and in a post from the CDFA Planting Seeds blog entitled A Farm Bill for our planet, they underscore the importance of the Farm Bill to California and how for the continued success of wildlife programs, environmental stewardship and efficient irrigation we need to continue to partner with the federal government. The Farm Bill encompasses areas that include conservation and energy. http://plantingseedsblog.cdfa.ca.gov/wordpress/?p=12741.


Standing Water

Too much water is the worry for many along the banks of the Sacramento and Feather River. Walnut trees and stone fruit trees can only take standing water on their roots for a certain amount of time before it kills the trees. Many orchard owners are running pumps to dewater orchards, but some seem to have become more duck habitat than orchard. This is just one of the many issues that have shifted the farmer’s attention from drought to flood in the last few months.

bottom of page