California dreamin'
This Grist special series will look beyond the pretty face of California agriculture to some of the stories that aren’t often told, and that will affect the future of the state’s food production in important ways.
In This Series
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California schemin’: How a fake organic fertilizer bamboozled farmers and watchdogs alike
What’s the difference?: What seemed like organic fertilizer to farmers could have been spiked with the synthetic kind.Truck photo (left): Iris Shreve Garrott It’s no secret that the organic food industry has seen explosive growth, taking only a mild drubbing through the recession and then continuing its ascent. At the heart of that growth has […]
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What doesn’t kill you makes you gourmet
Editor’s note: The following essay and map are excerpted from Infinite City: A San Francisco Atlas and are republished with permission by UC Press as part of Grist’s California agriculture series, an exploration of the people, farms, and issues shaping the state. Click for a larger version. The Bay Area is a tale of two […]
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The (not so) New Agtivist: Organic movement leader Bob Scowcroft looks back
Bob Scowcroft in 2008, in one of his signature shirts.Photo: Bart NagelAfter nearly three decades at the center of organic food and farming world, Bob Scowcroft recently retired as head of the Organic Farming Research Foundation (OFRF). Scowcroft was California Certified Organic Farmers‘ first executive director in 1987, then went on to cofound and lead […]
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Putting faces to your food [SLIDESHOW]
The following essay and images are excerpted with permission from The Migrant Project: Contemporary California Farm Workers, an iconic photo-documentary series shot by Rick Nahmias in 2002-03 and later published as a monograph. Each morning, as early as 2 a.m., these women travel from Mexicali to the Calexico Port of Entry. They wait to board […]
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The 'food desert' in the heart of California's farming region
The Central Valley of California produces half the fruits and vegetables grown in the US, yet its farmworker families have little access to fresh food
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The ‘food desert’ in the heart of California’s farming region
The Central Valley of California produces half the fruits and vegetables grown in the US, yet its farmworker families have little access to fresh food
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Farmworkers are climbing up the organic food chain
A number of migrant workers are no longer making pennies per bucket picked but working for themselves, running CSAs, and bringing new blood into American farming.
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Where Westlands water flows, California’s agriculture follows
What's happening in California's Westlands Water District provides a sneak peek at the problems that farmers all over the world will soon confront.
