August 2016: Sweet Corn & Presidential Candidates
“Not responding is a response – we are equally responsible for what we don’t do.” ― Jonathan Safran Foer, Eating Animals
California Farm and Garden News
California Farm and Garden has made a commitment not to buy or sell plants or seeds that are produced by Monsanto. This article from Mother Jones explores several reasons why. While UP makes no claims regarding GMOs, we choose not to use them. Think Progress discusses the complexities of GMO foods.
Unfortunately, Monsanto quietly owns many small seed companies, so it’s hard to know who has a patent on what, etc. Certain varieties, although originally heirloom and non-GMO, are now patented GMO strains thanks to Monsanto and friends.
As growers of food for your family, employees, students, etc al, we take our responsibility to health and sustainability very seriously. Know that we’ll try our best to keep California Farm and Garden gardens free of GMO and patented plants and seeds.
- Keep ants at bay from your garden and fruit trees using bait traps and occasional hard-water sprays on the trees.
- Water potted container gardens. San Diego Master Gardeners suggests you “water deeply so damaging salts from San Diego-area water are flushed out the pot’s drainage hole.”
- Minimize bolting by pinching off flower stalks and/or mulching, planting in a partially sunny area or using a shade cloth.
- Withhold water from artichoke plants in order to incite dormancy for the rest of the summer.
National News
Presidential Candidates on Agriculture
If you’re curious how the current US presidential nominees stack up on farm and food issues, we did a little research. Here, in last-name alphabetical order: Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton plans to boost small farms by “doubling funding for farmers markets” and creating a new farmer education program. Her larger rural agricultural plan, released in 2015, according to the DesMoines Register, included simplified regulations for community banks and improved infrastructure. In Congress she worked to keep antibiotic-treated chicken meat out of school lunches. At a biotechnology summit, she said she was in favor of GMO foods. Green Party candidate Jill Stein said in 2012: “Our food system should not be treated…as a tool for agribusiness and market share.” Her proposed subsidies support sustainable small and community farms, aimed at creating localized food systems. She supports labeling GMO foods. GOP candidate Donald Trump‘s well-documented remarks regarding immigration reform worry large-scale farmers who rely on immigrant workforces.Complicated worker visas, high costs, and an American labor force mostly uninterested in low-paying back-breaking farm work create the illegal-immigrant-dependent agricultural system we have today. Ballotopedia and Agri-Pulse list no agricultural policy history for Trump because he hasn’t mentioned farm bills in his speeches nor ever held public office.
Photo by Farmer Rob. The vining dragon fruit at Green Acres Campus Point has flowered. Next: fruit! 
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