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San Diego County Farm Bureau News
December 2009: Vol. 22. No. 12

MONTHLY COLUMNS

President's Message - Interesting times . . .

Top of Pageby Michael A. Mellano

As I sat down to write this month’s column, I found myself coming off of one of the busiest few weeks that I could ever remember trying to balance the various “hats” that I’m wearing these days (note the operative word “trying”). The only thing that kept coming to mind was the ancient Chinese proverb “May you be so fortunate as to live in interesting times.” “Go with it!” I said, so I decided first to look up the proverb on the Internet for accuracy. I was very surprised to see that, according to “Wikipedia,” many didn’t consider it to be of Chinese origin, that it didn’t include the word “fortunate,” and that some considered it to be the first of three curses—the other two being, “May you come to the attention of those in authority,” and “May you find what you are looking for.”

There is no doubt we are living in interesting times, but are they a curse or an opportunity? Probably a little of both, and it depends on the day and how you woke up. The troubled national and state economies, drought, quarantines, health insurance and immigration reform all add up to a jam-packed timeframe in our lives. At times, it may feel a bit overwhelming and futile and that we are just going to have to wait it out. Other times, there is optimism and a light at the end of the tunnel for a positive outcome. The one thing that I believe is very important during times like this is that we can’t isolate ourselves and stick our heads in the sand.

Change is bound to happen, and we need to be sure to take every opportunity to influence that change as much as possible. These days, it seems that there are so many big issues and they can consume so much time that I often wonder how we can be effective in making our point? That is why we are very fortunate as farmers and ranchers to be part of one of the best organizations around—Farm Bureau. I can tell you firsthand that California Farm Bureau is among the most highly respected groups around and is constantly at the table representing our interests. By banding together, we are able to collectively accomplish what we, as individuals, would be hard pressed to do.

Your membership in Farm Bureau is one of the best values anywhere. Where else would you be able to get professional backing of the size and magnitude that you get with California Farm Bureau, especially for the price we pay? Because we have banded together, we have a loud and respected voice—one that is sought out during negotiations at state and federal levels. Most recently, our state was able to come together around a partial solution to our water woes. We aren’t through yet and there is a long way to go, but you should take pride in knowing that our organization was at the table striving for a solution good for the entire state, north and south. We must have this type of representation if we hope to be able to impact our futures. To go without is like sticking your head in the sand. We are all extremely busy running our businesses, especially these days. It is comforting to know that we have somebody large and capable watching out for us. We need our associations to represent us now more than ever. We all need to be members of Farm Bureau.

Yes, we are definitely living in interesting times!

From the Executive Director

The next chapter in the water wars will be up to voters; will they rise to the challenge?

by Eric Larson

It didn’t take long. The governor’s signature was barely dry on the new water legislation when the naysayers began their laments: It’s too expensive; it’s laden with pork; the rules go too far; the rules don’t go far enough; Southern California is stealing our water; Northern California isn’t accountable; there’s not enough conservation; conservation rules are too harsh. Most everyone seems to have a complaint, so maybe the legislators came close to getting it right.

It has been an unfortunately long time since our state leaders took water seriously, so instead of incremental and studied remedies we get several decades worth of legislation all at once. But I guess that’s how a state that only acts in response to crisis works. As long as there was water in the pipes there was no foresight. When there isn’t enough water to go around, suddenly our leaders are blessed with vision. But the bottom line is that they got it done, regardless of the inspiration.

If you have read the legislation, you will see that it has two distinct parts. Governance policies are now law that deal with conservation, Delta stewardship, and groundwater monitoring. The second part is the money portion that now lies in the hands of voters. If the more than $11 billion in bonds gets the necessary votes in November next year, the state will build new storage and dozens of smaller projects that are expected to augment local water supplies. In less than a year, we will learn if California voters have the appetite for significant debt to help allay the state’s thirst.

Assuming voters agree that a thirsty state will be a damaged state, the missing part is what has come to be known as “conveyance,” or building a canal around the Delta to facilitate the movement of water from north to south while keeping fish from meeting their demise. Actually, it’s not really missing, but the legislature and governor have decided that the canal question will be better answered by a seven-member body that is not prone to decision making based on re-election concerns. The Delta governance framework calls for the appointment of the Delta Stewardship Council that will be tasked with answering the questions that have lingered since the defeat of the Peripheral Canal by California voters in 1982 on how, when, and where a canal—or pipe—should be built.

So, now the spotlight is off Sacramento and will be shining directly on the voters and the yet-to-be-named members of the Delta Stewardship Council. Water never fails to be entertaining.

From the Ag Commissioner

Bob Atkins, Agricultural Commissioner/Sealer of Weights and Measures

Important reminders for 2010

As 2009 begins to wrap up, I would like to thank San Diego County growers and ranchers for their cooperation. In addition to other serious challenges, an unprecedented amount of agricultural areas have been placed under quarantine this year. Pest interceptions are increasing, maintaining standards of nursery stock cleanliness has been tougher, and additional pesticides have been required to help resolve these pest problems. All of these issues resulted in the need to comply with more regulations.

It is our job to promote the sustainability of agriculture while protecting the environment and ensuring the health and safety of all residents. We enforce laws needed by the agricultural industry. Most of the work we do is aimed at keeping pests out, monitoring what pests are here, keeping markets open by meeting the destination jurisdictions’ entry requirements, and ensuring that pesticides are used safely.

Industry cooperation is essential. Without the same goals in mind, regulators and industry can be at odds. Yet what we see is that 99 percent of our industry understands the importance of meeting these requirements in order to preserve the ability to ship intra-state, domestically or internationally, and preserving the right to use important pesticides responsibly.

However, as change is ongoing, it is important that laws and regulations keep pace with the needs of agriculture. These are your laws and regulations. If you see a need for changes or improvements to our laws, I encourage you to contact me or California Secretary of Agriculture A.G. Kawamura. We are committed to working with you.

Speaking of regulations, I would like to bring you some important annual reminders for 2010:

Worker Safety Regulations. We continue to emphasize worker safety. Employers whose employees use pesticides or enter treated field must have an up-to-date worker protection program.

Annual Restricted Materials Permit Renewals. Most permits expire December 31, 2009. To renew, schedule an appointment with your pesticide inspector.

Operator Identification (OID) Number Renewals. Most OIDs were renewed at the end of 2007 and expire December 31, 2010. Please contact us if you need a new OID or will be using pesticides on a new agricultural property.

Annual Pest Control Advisor and Pest Control Business Renewals. Please be absolutely certain that you have registered before performing pest control for hire or writing recommendations. If you were registered with us in 2009, look for renewal information in the mail to complete and return. To complete your registration in person, visit us at:

San Diego Office:
5555 Overland Ave., San Diego, CA 92123
1:00 to 3:00 p.m. Mon.-Fri.

New San Marcos Office (by appointment):
151 E. Carmel St., San Marcos, CA 92078

Device Registrations. If you use a device, such as a scale or meter, to weigh or measure items for sale, the device registration fee is due Jan. 1.

Organic Farming and Direct Marketing Certificates. These certificates expire one year from the date issued and are not renewed on a fixed calendar date.

Crop Report. In January, crop report questionnaires will be mailed to every farmer in our database to compile the annual crop report and to determine the value of agriculture in this county. We depend on your information when advising federal and state legislators and our Board of Supervisors about local agriculture.

Technology Update: In 2010, we will begin using Accela, a software product designed to improve the way we conduct business. The goal is to provide more efficient and effective service to our customers while reducing our costs. AWM inspectors will use computers in the field during inspections, allowing access to previous inspections, permits and reference information, such as laws, regulations, labels, etc. Additionally, directly entering inspection information will reduce paper and office staff time entering data. We are one of the first County departments to use Accela, with other County departments expected to transition to this system.

For more information, please contact us:
San Diego office: 858-694-8988
San Marcos office: 760-752-4700
E-mail:sdcawm@sdcounty.ca.gov
Web: www.sdcawm.org

Ask the Farm & Home Advisor

by Valerie J. Mellano, Ph.D., UC Cooperative Extension, San Diego County

Q: What are the major cuts that Cooperative Extension will be taking due to the current budget situation?

A: Many of you already know that Farm Advisors will be taking approximately two days per month of furlough time, amounting to an average 8 percent pay cut. However, there are many more cuts for the UC Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources, home to Cooperative Extension Advisors and Specialists, to attain a $9 million permanent budget reduction. Many of the cuts have been administrative, and will most likely be invisible to the public. However, many familiar programs have also been affected or consolidated. Here are some of the budget decisions:

  • The Statewide Center for Water Resources, The Integrated Hardwood Range Program and the Small Farms Program will close Dec. 31, 2009.
  • The Statewide Integrated Pest Management Program (UCIPM) will receive a 20 percent budget cut. The Sustainable Agriculture Research and Extension Program (SAREP), the Agriculture Issues Center and the 4H Statewide Office will also receive 20 percent budget cuts.
  • The Statewide Analytical Lab, used by Advisors and Specialists, will be closed Sept. 30, 2010. Research at Shafter Research and Experiment Center will close as of March 2010, and activities will be transferred to another field station when possible. In addition, all field stations will receive a 10 percent budget cut.

No Cooperative Extension Advisors or Specialists will be laid off, but we will definitely be looking for more efficient ways to do business!

FFA Ag-tivities: Fallbrook FFA

As 2009 winds down, the Fallbrook FFA is proud to say that it’s made the most of this exciting year. As we review this last year, the Fallbrook FFA has succeeded in accomplishing some amazing feats!
The judging teams that we have at the Fallbrook FFA are Vegetables, Farm Records, Specialty Animals, Horse, Nursery/Landscape, Floriculture, Best Informed Greenhand (BIG), and Farm Power. Out of all of these judging teams, the Vegetable, BIG, Specialty Animals, Ornamental Horticulture, and Floriculture teams qualified for State Finals at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo last May.

Many students in the Fallbrook FFA actively participate with their Supervised Agricultural Experience Projects (SAEP). The projects that are done by the students at Fallbrook include livestock, nursery, job placement, agricultural mechanics and agriscience research. Annually, over 70 students exhibit their livestock projects at the Fallbrook Youth Fair and San Diego County Fair. And, for the ninth year in a row, the landscape project students exhibited a plant display at the San Diego County Fair, receiving first place.

Six students received state degrees this year, including Stacy Magana, Jake Vivar, Nick Weyand, Christine Russell, Melissa Maultsby, and Raquel Varela. After a successful recruitment last year and an ambitious group of freshmen students, the Fallbrook FFA had an incredible number of more than 100 Greenhand Degree recipients will receive their degrees at the Awards Night in December!

Proficiencies are something that the Fallbrook FFA is very successful in. These are another way for members to receive recognition for the work they have completed with their SAE Projects. This year we had four state proficiency finalists: Melissa Maultsby, Stacy Magana, Nick Weyand, and Tatiana Prestininzi (Tatiana was also was elected as a state officer this past April). Melissa Maultsby and Stacy Magana were both National Proficiency Finalists, with Melissa receiving first in Nursery Operations and Stacy receiving second in Agricultural Processing.

The Fallbrook FFA has had both an eventful and rewarding year, and we are looking forward to continued success throughout the 2009-2010 school year. We thank Farm Bureau for your support of agriculture youth programs in our community!

Fallbrook FFA Wish List

  • Storage cabinets
  • Commercial style shelves
  • Hanging wall cabinets
  • Old used lariats
  • One gallon plant containers
  • Electric skillet
  • Redwood/cedar 2 x 12’s for raised bed garden
  • Riverbed rock for rock walls

If you can help the Fallbrook FFA by providing any of these items, please contact the Farm Bureau at (760) 745-3023 or Fallbrook  FFA instructor Scott Duffin at (760) 723-6300, Ext. 2507 or via e-mail at sduffin@fuhsd.net.

News from the San Diego Region Irrigated Lands Group

Is your operation currently following BMPs?

One of the requirements under Conditional Waiver No. 4 granted by the San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board (RWQCB) to irrigated agricultural and nursery operations is that “Agricultural and nursery operators must implement management measures and best management practices to minimize or eliminate the discharge of pollutants that may adversely impact the quality or beneficial uses of waters of the state.” Are you currently in compliance?

Even if you have enrolled in the San Diego Region Irrigated Lands Group, which is still gathering data in preparation for filing its Notice of Intent as a Monitoring Group to RWQCB by January 1, 2011, each grower has a responsibility to be operating right now under these best management practices (BMPs). Now, the BMPs for all types of irrigated agricultural operations are conveniently contained in one document created by UCCE Farm Advisor Val Mellano. The document, entitled “Inventory of Best Management Practices for San Diego Agriculture,” will be available in early December and can be found at http://cesandiego.ucdavis.edu/Clean_Water/Grower_Resources.htm.

The San Diego Region Irrigated Lands Group Educational Corporation (“Group”) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation. Periodic updates of activities going on in the Group will be published in this newsletter. For more information about the Group, visit www.sdfarmbureau.org and click on the “Irrigated Lands Group” link.

Farm Bureau has been working for you.

  • Top of Page Testified at Metropolitan Water District in support of desalination funding
  • Traveled to Sacramento to discuss state water policy
  • Met with Department of Pesticide Regulation Director Mary Ann Warmerdam
  • Presented Farm Bureau position on General Plan Update to Planning Commission
  • Worked on runoff monitoring protocol with Regional Water Quality Control Board
  • Appeared on KPBS radio and TV discussing access to local crops
  • Sent letter questioning closure of UC Small Farm Program

Pest Watch

Med fly

Medfly finds and quarantines expand. The Escondido Mediterranean fruit fly quarantine has expanded as a result of new fly finds, and a quarantine has been established in Fallbrook after the discovery of Medfly larvae shortly after adult finds occurred. Because new developments are unfolding on this issue almost daily, Farm Bureau recommends that members get up-to-the-minute information on Medfly finds and quarantines by visiting the SDCFB Web site (www.sdfarmbureau.org), which is updated immediately upon new information being received. Links are also provided to the latest quarantine maps published by CDFA. For additional information, contact the Medfly Project Office at (760) 510-4703. The office is located at 1520 Linda Vista Drive, San Marcos (92078) and is staffed daily (and not subject to the state’s current furlough program), including Saturdays, from 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

Asian citrus psyllid

The San Diego County quarantine area has expanded north of Highway 78 and now includes much of the growing areas of Borrego Springs, Valley Center, Fallbrook, and Pauma Valley. So far, all samples continue testing negative for the citrus greening disease, HLB. For the latest information, visit the SDCFB Web site at www.sdfarmbureau.org. Direct any questions to the local CDFA office in Lemon Grove at (619) 698-1046.

Featured Articles Top of Page

Donate an unwanted car and raise money for Ag in the Classroom

by Nancy Walery

Got an old car you’d like to unload, but it’s not worth enough on trade-in to make it worth your while? What if you could donate it, get a tax deduction for the full auction sale price, and help San Diego Ag in the Classroom fund more Garden Grants?

In San Diego County Farm Bureau’s own version of the national “Cash for Clunkers” program, you can. With one phone call to 1-877-99-AG-CAR, the exclusive donation hotline reserved for San Diego Ag in the Classroom, you can schedule that unwanted vehicle for pickup within 48 hours. You’ll get an immediate receipt when they pick up the donation. The following week, it will be sold at auction. Within 30 days, you will receive IRS Form 1098C reflecting the actual sale price (and the amount of your tax deduction), and 70 percent of the sale proceeds will be deposited in Ag in the Classroom’s bank account.

“If Father Joe can do it, why can’t Farm Bureau?” said SDCFB Executive Director Eric Larson after recently donating an old car to Father Joe Carroll and realizing a missed opportunity. “As the car was being towed away, it hit me that we could do this and help Farm Bureau programs like Ag in the Classroom.” After investigating the options, Farm Bureau selected and contracted with Charitable Auto Resources (CARS™), whose mission is to support non-profit organizations in raising funds through a vehicle donation program. San Diego-based CARS, which is owned and operated by a highly respected and trusted social service agency, has been in business since 1991 and accepts car donations for more than 500 charities and nonprofit organizations nationwide. It is currently running programs in 34 states and the District of Columbia.

The Ag in the Classroom Vehicle Donation Program also accepts motorcycles, boats, trucks, motor homes, planes, timeshares, and homes, provided the donor has the keys and clear title (no lienholder) to the item being donated. Vehicles do not have to be in running condition, but they must have an engine and be towable. No current registration or smog certificate? Also no problem; CARS will take care of it and any other details to make the process fast and simple for the donor as well as the contracting charity.

“This program is perfect for those of us who are constantly trying to find ways to fund school garden programs,” said San Diego Ag in the Classroom Chair Cathey Anderson, who added that they have been unable to meet all grant requests due to funding constraints. “It’s always hard for us to raise enough money, even with the generosity of Farm Bureau members at our fundraising events. Since school budget cuts are getting worse, the Vehicle Donation Program could be the lifeline that bridges the gap between our current fundraising endeavors and the financial goal we are trying to meet.”

The Vehicle Donation Program’s toll-free hotline, 1-877-99-AG-CAR, is the exclusive number for the benefit of San Diego Ag in the Classroom, so by calling this number, you are automatically directing your donation to the correct organization. So share this information with friends and family! The hotline is staffed by a live representative Monday through Friday from 5 a.m. to 6 p.m. PST, as well as Saturday and Sunday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. During off hours, an automated voicemail will record your message and a representative will return your call during staffed hours.

Without opening your wallet or writing a check, you can do great things for agricultural education in San Diego County’s schools. Call soon, and you might even be able to get your donation processed in time to claim it as a 2009 tax deduction.

Tierra Miguel Farm teams up with International Rescue Committee to help Somali Bantu tribe members reconnect with their agricultural roots

Refugee Entrepreneurial Agriculture Program will help grow new crop of U.S. farmers

by Nancy Walery

Twelve thousand Somali Bantu, an ethnic minority disconnected from Somalia’s mainstream society and relentlessly persecuted during Somalia’s civil war in 1991, are getting a fresh start at a new life in the United States since the first tribe members began arriving in various U.S. cities in 2004. About 500 have resettled in San Diego County so far and, with their strong work ethic and rudimentary but fruitful agricultural skills, may well become our next crop of farmers, thanks to the collaborative efforts of the International Rescue Committee of San Diego and Tierra Miguel Farm in Pauma Valley.

There were about 100,000 members of the Somali Bantu tribe in Somalia who fled their homes for Kenyan refugee camps in 1992, where they and their extended families have lived in one-room mud houses topped with iron sheet roofs ever since. In the camps, they have been safe from the warring factions, but tight food rations are a precious commodity, the daily water allocation is about 5 liters per person, and farming opportunities in the semi-arid climate are scarce. At the sprawling Kakuma Refugee Camp, which is home to 80,000 refugees from a number of African regions including Sudan and Ethiopia, the 12,000 Somali Bantu preparing to move to the United States attended schools to learn “survival literacy” in English and math and receive basic cultural orientation. In the camp, they might have been able to find work as laborers in one of the bicycle repair shops or, if their English was good, perhaps get a job as an interpreter. The Somali Bantu have their own language, customs and culture, but only one percent of the adults possess any functional literacy in English, with an additional 35 percent classified only as semi-literate in any language, according the International Rescue Committee. In Somalia, they were relegated to the lower end of a caste system in which they had no access to formal education or skilled jobs, making subsistence dry farming their primary source of survival and food security.

So the opportunity to come to the U.S. and start a new life in the foreign environs of an industrialized society, complete with “luxuries” like running water, electricity, security, and plentiful food, is a very different world from anything they have ever known. Through contracts with the U.S. government, the International Rescue Committee (IRC) is the bridge that supports that transition for new refugee immigrants by providing immediate aid, food and shelter. An extensive network of staff and volunteers guide them on a path toward self-reliance with housing, job placement and skills training, clothing, medical attention, education, more English-language classes and cultural orientation toward the goal of becoming permanent residents or U.S. citizens.

With so many of the Somali Bantu refugees possessing marketable skills in agriculture and little else, the IRC’s challenge was to find a way to build on that foundation. They located 2.5-acres of urban farmland in the City Heights neighborhood of San Diego to create a community garden, where about 25 Somali Bantu eagerly signed up with about 55 other City Heights residents to develop their own 30’x20’ plot and reconnect with their agricultural roots. The project’s goal is not only to help them grow culturally familiar and nutritious foods in their adopted homeland, but also to find a path to self-sufficiency by exploring whether their reconnection to farming could sow the seeds of a future business opportunity.

“These community gardens are giving the Somali Bantu an opportunity to discover whether agriculture is still a viable career option for them to pursue in the U.S.,” explained Amy Lint, the New Roots Community Farm Program Coordinator at the IRC who developed the community garden program. “We are seeing that many do like it and want to pursue it more seriously. But a 30’x20’ plot of land is not sufficient to take it to the next level and start a farming enterprise or form a cooperative.” Lint had not yet begun her search for additional farmland when Jonathan Reinbold, the Community Food Projects Coordinator at Tierra Miguel Farm in Pauma Valley, approached her and offered five acres of its 85-acre California Certified Organic Farm to the IRC for their educational program.

Over the span of just a few months, the IRC assembled and received a large Community Food Projects grant From USDA, which established the New Immigrant Food and Farming (NIFF) Action Center, a program focused on creating small, local businesses around food, such as restaurants, catering, and farming. Out of NIFF came the Refugee Entrepreneurial Agriculture Program (REAP), a structured 18-week farming program composed of classroom training at IRC and hands-on work at Tierra Miguel Farm. There, they are preparing the soil, laying the irrigation, planting, tending and harvesting the crops, as well as seeing the process through the marketing cycle and learning to manage the accounting/business components as well. The program was launched in October, and the first batch of crops—carrots, Swiss chard, kale, spinach and mustard greens—were planted in one section; in another, a soil-enriching cover crop of fava beans and cow peas (the leaves of which are a staple food in the Somali Bantu culture) will soon be planted to prepare for the spring crop. Tierra Miguel Farm has promised to purchase half of what the program produces for use in its thriving Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program (www.tierramiguelfarm.org), with the remainder taken by REAP program participants to their community’s City Heights Farmers’ Market, which will help train them on the marketing side of the business.

“When the farmer graduates from REAP, they are largely prepared to pursue leasing or owning their own land and farming on their own,” explained Reinbold. “That is the goal. We hope we are growing farmers.”
Lint said the first 18-week session in the pilot program has run relatively smoothly and been so successful that another 18-week session with 19 new refugee participants will begin in March.

“REAP is a good second phase of the IRC program to move up from the 30’x20’ plot to a bigger piece of land. It is letting them see what farming looks like from a business perspective and if they’re ready to run their own farming business.”

Abdi, a 19-year old member of the program in a team of seven working at Tierra Miguel Farm on a recent Tuesday afternoon, said what he likes most about being in the U.S. is the sense of safety he feels here. And while the four-man, three-woman team started their field work that afternoon strategizing, staking the lines and trenching tight rows in which to lay drip lines (“so we can plant more crops and grow more food,” said Haji, 27, because wide rows are a “waste of good planting space”), they were a talkative, enthusiastic and optimistic bunch with a clear mission, motivated by future prospects of earning a living working in farming—and excited about using an irrigation system for the first time. And they are doing most of the work the same way they did in their homeland—by hand.

“It is a joyful process for them to be working, planting, and planning for the future,” said Tierra Miguel founder and Farm Manager Milijan “Mil” Krecu. “They are driving an hour and a half to get here, and it is awesome to see them work so hard.” All the work is being done by hand except tilling the soil, and Mil said they actually want to do the field work they way they are used to doing it. “Over time, we will offer them the use of more tools and equipment as their production builds and prepare them for something in between what they did in the old country and the high mechanization we do here. They may not be able to afford all the equipment, but they will eventually learn to use some reasonable amount of technology.”

Lint concurred. “It is more empowering for them to farm initially in the way they already know,” she explained, adding that each participant contributed $50 toward the cost of seeds, travel to the farm, and miscellaneous costs to help launch a sustainable program. “Working by hand is the simplified way, and they won’t get lost in technicalities. We want to first let them remember what they liked about farming. There’s a certain therapeutic and spiritual element in being outdoors and working in the soil. We didn’t want to bring in any complexities that could overwhelm them at the beginning, because there are already so many new experiences they are learning to deal with.”

The REAP program could also fill a developing void in the U.S. Nationally, the USDA has watched the average age of the American farmer climb, while most of America’s youth is not interested in pursuing agricultural careers. According to USDA’s 2007 Census of Agriculture, the fastest growing group of farm operators is age 65 and over, with a long-term trend indicating that the average age of the principal farm operator increases about one year per 5-year census cycle. In 1978, the average age nationally was 51; by 2007, that number was 58. In San Diego County, the average age of a farmer is 60. This trend does not bode well for U.S. food security and its ability to feed its own citizens from a sustainable domestic food supply.

“We are slowly heading toward a domestic food crisis here, which is a growing concern for the USDA,” said Lint. “We need people to grow local, nutritious food. And here we have a refugee immigrant population coming into the U.S. from a strong farming background with lots of respect for the trade who will make a huge contribution toward averting such a crisis. The IRC sees that as an opportunity, and our goal is to facilitate the people who are interested and able to help us solve our broken food system—including finding the land to get them started. By growing the REAP program and collaborating with our local Somali Bantu community and Tierra Miguel Farm, we can make that goal a reality.”

FB to establish a Borrego Springs Center

by Nancy Walery

Back in the early days of Farm Bureau, before county Farm Bureau offices became the norm, Farm Bureau members were part of geographical “centers,” where they gathered to discuss community farming issues and hold social events. Over time, as Farm Bureau offices became the hub of agricultural information and organization for an entire county, the community centers closed. Now, an opportunity has arisen to open a Borrego Springs Center to help those growers continue their efforts to become more visible in their community on water issues.

First, a bit of history. The impetus for a Borrego Springs Center dates back to January of 2001, when the Borrego Water District (BWD) published a groundwater management study report that indicated the Borrego Valley aquifer level was dropping about two feet per year. At that rate, the report said, half the water in the upper and middle aquifers would be depleted in about 35 years, with the remainder depleted in about 100 years. The report also stated that water usage was 70 percent attributed to agriculture, 20 percent to golf courses and commercial landscaping, with the remainder to residential and commercial uses. A few months later, BWD proposed a groundwater management plan that singled out area farmers as the sole source of the problem and solution.

Borrego Valley growers, most of whom were Farm Bureau members, worked with BWD to find a comprehensive, fair and more balanced solution, but BWD moved forward with a plan to limit agricultural activity and expansion in the valley to reduce the decline in water levels of monitored wells. So the growers organized as a mutual benefit corporation to address the growing anti-ag movement in the Borrego Valley. The purpose of the corporation, called the Agricultural Alliance for water and Resource Education (AAWARE), was to disseminate accurate information to the public about the aquifer problem and local agriculture’s contributions to the community. AAWARE collected voluntary acreage assessments from area growers, engaged a hydrologist as a technical advisor, formed a citizen’s task force to find alternate sources of water, increased its presence at public meetings, and retained an attorney to help them strategize.

However, without a formal business structure, they found they could not open bank accounts or conduct financial business. As they investigated the process of forming a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation, they became discouraged at the cost of incorporating and the anticipated cost of annual corporate reporting and tax returns. They turned to Farm Bureau for advice and discussed the idea of dissolving the AAWARE corporation and creating a Farm Bureau Center.

With the recent approval of SDCFB’s board of directors, the wheels are now in motion to form the official Borrego Springs Center. The Center, which will operate under the auspices of Farm Bureau, will function like a Farm Bureau committee, require Farm Bureau membership of each participating grower, elect its own leadership, raise its own funds, and continue to conduct its own business as before. For a nominal fee, Farm Bureau will perform the Center’s administrative support tasks, manage its financial and accounting records, collect assessments and pay debts, with all expenses borne by the Center and its members.