In California's Central Valley: Rich Land, Poor Nutrition

npr.org:

California's Central Valley produces many of the fruits and vegetables consumed in America. It is also one of the poorest areas of the country.

Read the whole story: npr.org

Comments

[sagebrush5]

Having grown up in the San Joaquin Valley, it seems to me that the ultra conservatism came from
historical legacies such as: wealthy families owning giant estancias during the pre-state years of California, wealthy men owning rich oil fields and vast cotton farms with exceptionally cheap farm labor (mostly black), vast agricutural estates with products like grapes, oranges and sugar beets with exceptionally cheap farm labor (mostly Mexican) ...it's all about controlling the land...and that means being a "Conservative". That conservatism permeated everything. Reformers and political activists like Cesar Chavez were held in disdain even by those who wanted to think of themselves as the "rising middle class...of whites" And then, as you mentioned, there is the water. When I was a young child, the Kern River flowed through Bakersfield...but now it is dry. It's all siphoned off.

[Tom95134]

The one major "gift" to those landowners were the federal water subsidies. The California Central Valley could never have developed if out tax money hadn't gone to pay for all the water that these landowners were using to turn an area that is nearly desert into arable land. Today they still suck the water from the Sacramento delta and pay for it using federal water subsidies. Water that is used to grow water intensive crops like rice and cotton. It is insane.

Meanwhile, interest groups stand in the way of construction of large scale solar generating plants using tower/reflector technology. This technology not only generates clean power but produces enough excess heat that it can be used to desalinate sea water. Development on this is being blocked because the presence of the reflector "farms" may have some impact on the desert environment. It's time to get our priorities straight.

[mamacat]

Thanks.
The tax-payer provided subsidies are what make the large farms possible, which are part of what keep the workers on the farms so poor. It is a terrible use of tax-payer money. The water subsidies for the rich landowners not only hurts taxpayers, but forces small farmers outside of our own borders off of their farms, because they cannot compete with the artificially low prices of American farm products.

Also, this area has the dirtiest air in the whole United States. The constant fumigation of pesticides has nowhere to go, as the valley is surrounded on all sounds by mountains, except for a narrow outlet at the San Francisco Bay. Any reasonable monitoring program would mandate the shutdown of the massive fumigation campaigns in the Central Valley. The air in Los Angeles is clean by comparison to the Central Valley.

[JScott]

Much the same could also be said for the Imperial Valley as well.

[Weirdwriter]

Strangely enough, the area is one of the most politically conservative on the West Coast. Republicans and "conservative Democrats" keep the bootstraps mighty short and put themselves behind gated communities. Yep, know this myself.

[Tom95134]

California's Central Valley is rich land? Only if your have a nearly unlimited supply of cheap water. The Central Valley owes its life to the water redirected from the Sacramento River and subsidized by federal tax dollars.

[JScott]

Yup it doesn't get crop subsidies for commodity crops it gets water subsidies and most of those go to corporate farms namely in the Westlands Water District (google it)