Episode Details

Tending to California's Golden Agriculture

Karen Ross, California's Secretary of Agriculture

Begin with a Mediterranean climate; add a long range of mountains to collect and store winter’s precipitation; carve out a deep valley at the foot of those mountains, then add to that valley rich, alluvial soils.

It is a fact, the nation’s Golden State was designed and built for agriculture.

Stand back and have a look:  California’s 77,000 farms and ranches produce nearly $50 billion dollars of revenue a year, and that is nearly double the revenue produced by #2 Iowa.   The state’s farmers and ranchers grow more than 400 commodities, including a huge percentage of the nation’s fruits, vegetables and nuts. 

Though agriculture has done its part in maintaining California’s golden glow, it must now compete with many other interests for the state’s resources.  And this competition leads many to ask:

How can California farmers and ranchers keep growing the gold?