[Magdalen] California drought

[Charles Wohlers]

-----Original Message----- 
From: M J [Mike] Logsdon
Sent: Sunday, November 16, 2014 4:53 PM
To: magdalen at herberthouse.org
Subject: Re: [Magdalen] California drought

Almonds?  Forgive the insensitivity, but... please.  Almonds?  CA's Central 
Valley is hurting, and understandably so.  But the US can live without 
almonds.  How many could live without the Salinas Valley?  The Salad Bowl of 
CA, and much of the world.  Lettuce, broccoli, cauliflower, artichokes, 
berries uncountable.  (And yes, a lot of wine grapes, believe it or not. 
Travel between Paso Robles and Salinas and count the grape orchards, if you 
can.)


All that stuff can be, and is, grown elsewhere, including right here in 
Northern Vermont. No need to grow it all in the Salinas Valley. True, no 
fresh strawberries at weird times of the year, but one can do without that, 
I think.

>From my new High Mowing Seed Catalog (located in neighboring Wolcott, VT):
"New races of downy mildew (DM) fungus always appear in the areas of densest 
[lettuce & spinach] production. Lettuce production (and DM) is most 
concentrated in the Salinas Valley in California. Every 6-18 months or so, a 
new strain of DM is discovered in California." And so breeders are always 
trying to develop new strains to fight it. A really good reason NOT to grow 
all our lettuce & spinach in one place - be it the Salinas Valley or 
somewhere else.

I know that concentrated agriculture is largely the basis of your economy, 
but growing all that stuff in one place really isn't a great idea. (rant 
off)

Chad Wohlers
Woodbury, VT USA
chadwohl at satucket.com