[AT] Agriculture in Coastal Central California and weather

[Louis]

It is unfortunate, but I think some in government want to push
agriculture out of this country.  The other day the inspector for the
Ohio Dept of Ag came into my uncle's packing house (apple).  She was
going to red tag the operation, because the water in the "washer" looked
dirty to her.  My uncle had to explain, that she wasn't looking at the
washer.  She was looking at the dump tank.  That is a very large tank of
water used to float the fruit out of the bins, then up a roller elevator
to the washer.  A lot of these people that make and enforce the laws,
come right out of college and right into government.  There should be a
law that they have to work in the industry for at least two years, so
they can see the reality of the business.  They need to know there isn't
an endless supply of money to always upgrade to what they think we
should have.  There is a reason why we run tractors and equipment that
is 30, 40, 50 years old.  Not necessarily because we are in love with
them, but because of the economics of the situation.  

Sorry for the rant, I am getting really p#$$%@ off at all the stupid
regulation, and the idiots that are sent to enforce it.  Let's get back
to some common sense.

Lou

-----Original Message-----
From: at-bounces at lists.antique-tractor.com
[mailto:at-bounces at lists.antique-tractor.com] On Behalf Of John B
Sent: Monday, October 25, 2010 7:35 PM
To: Antique tractor email discussion group
Subject: Re: [AT] Agriculture in Coastal Central California and weather


The machinery issue is the same with our 40 acre English walnut orchard.
My two "new " tractors are early 1970's JD 2030 and 2630 models. I buy
nothing new. The only way to make any money farming on this small scale
is to buy used equipment and know how to maintain it and keep it
running. Which can be a problem down the road as California Air
Resources Board sooner or later will declare our old equipment illegal
to use since the engines are not up to newer pollution standards.

I also do not do any of my own harvesting, either. It does not pay to
own the equipment that will be used only a few days of the year. I have
a nearby farmer and his crew harvest them- he spends about three months
of the year harvesting almonds and walnuts for many other farmers and I
know his total equipment inventory has to be between one and two million
dollars. The only way he can afford it is by doing custom harvesting for
others. By the way, my walnuts are an earlier variety and harvest
finished up about a week ago. With our weekend rains, I see some of our
neighbors with the later varieties having the shaken and windrowed
walnuts on the ground, but unable to pick them up for another day or two
until the ground dries out.

John Boehm
Woodland, CA
Visit my web site at http://vintagetractors.com


     At least we got our walnuts harvested on the day the rains started
before the rain started a week ago Saturday. Some farmers are still in
the position that their nuts are on the ground and that is a really bad
thing with precipitation. We had another farmer shake our little
orchard, and then we picked up the nuts by hand - lots of labor! But
then I just bought a harvester that I am hoping I can refurbish and use
in the future. This will naturally involve a lot of work, but hopefully
the 1950's vintage machinery will work well. There are plenty of other
similar age units still in use in California, but the issue will come
soon of whether the pollution regulations make it impossible to use
these old but operational units. A new set of harvesting machinery of
this type for the Walnuts would exceed $100,000 - possibly $200,000. Yes
it would be faster, but it would not pay for anyone at this point in our
area to acquire a new setup because it would never pay for itself with
our small orchards.
     Does this sound typical of life as a farmer? It should! 
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