Other research from California and Texas have shown that the advanced practice of drip irrigation reduces the emission of greenhouse gasses through better utilization of applied nitrogen. Excess nitrogen applied to crops is often volatilized as nitrous oxide, a powerful greenhouse gas. The more efficient application of nitrogen through the drip system a process known as fertigation and commonly referred to as “spoon feeding” only applies the nitrogen the plant needs greatly increasing the nitrogen use efficiency. This saves the farmer money and saves the natural gas often used to produce nitrogen fertilizer as well as reducing greenhouse gasses.

Forty years after Paul Ehrlich predicted in “The Population Bomb”  that we will not be able to feed the world’s growing population  modern efficient farming practices often derided as industrial agriculture is able to feed the world and offers the environment the benefits of that efficiency.

My family also picked wild mushrooms, dug clams, harvested beach plums and blackberries. I even tried my hand at collecting sap and making maple syrup and made my own bayberry wax candles. It is important to know where your food comes from. Foraging opens your eyes to new food options and flavors. It can help move away from everyday foods to more interesting even sustainable options.

It is also important to understand the limitations of the land. Even the most fantastic wild blueberry find will only feed a few. It does not take many harvesters to clean out a clam bed or fish out a stream. Wild mushrooms can be reduced to a few choice specimens in just a few years.

Feeding a growing world can not be accomplished through foraging. It requires cultivation and nurturing. It takes farming.

My overriding goal in this venture was to create a connection between my customers and their food. It was not so much about buying local, although I supported local farmers whenever possible, but more about understanding that food does not magically wind up in packages. A lot of hand labor goes into producing the food we eat and the people who have made this their vocation deserve a nod of credit and praise.

As you can imagine I still have a strong interest in cooking and food. Yesterday, channel surfing while recovering from a minor operation, I landed on a America’s Test Kitchen a TV program from the folks who write Cooks Illustrated. Cooks Illustrated is considered the premier source for non-biased food information as they do not take advertising dollars. On this particular program they were rating California olive oils. Olive oil from California Olive Ranch came in first only a tenth of a point behind their favorite imported oil. It just so happens that California Olive Ranch is employing some innovative production practices and Netafim has been working with them to assist with their irrigation needs. Full circle from the food we grow to the meals we eat.

I like the locavore movement because I like the public taking an interest in where their food comes from and as importantly how much it costs to produce. Talk to your local farmer at the farm market and find out how long it took to harvest the food you are buying. Farming is hard backbreaking work and not extremely lucrative. There is a certain amount of love involved in being a farmer.

The locavore movement also helps the buying public appreciate what the earth has to offer. You have a cold spring and the strawberries may not be as sweet as you remember. This does not mean they are bad they are different because each growing year is different. Fruits and vegetables are in many ways like wines. They change from year to year and understanding this is a giant step to appreciating you’re the bounty of the earth. Expecting each strawberry or tomato to be a little sugar bomb ignores the balance that makes a fruit perfect. Just like wine needs balance so should your fruit and vegetables.

Working with what the earth gives you is part of great cooking. Adding a little sugar or even vinegar to create the right balance in your tomato sauce is not a sin, it shows a real understanding of flavor. Appreciating the flavor of what the earth gives you and understanding the reason behind the unique flavors is one reason that buying local is good for all of us.

Of course the “add water” part has been a little contentious lately. At the turn of the century, farming was the main business here and water systems were developed to advance this industry. Add a few 10’s of millions of people some very profitable silicon based industries and all of a sudden businesses, houses and nature are all competing for a limited resource. Balancing these competing needs is a tricky proposition.

It is easy to write off farming, it is the biggest water user but cannot command the economic clout of real estate, Silicon Valley or the entertainment industry. But when choices have to be made, do not forget that there are few agricultural regions of the world that are as productive as California.

It is estimated that by 2050 only eight countries will be net exporters of agricultural products. Right now the US tops the list. Do we want it be that way in 40 years?

The world population is expected to reach 9 billion people by 2050. That is an increase of approximately 2.3 billion from today. At the same time the amount of arable land in the US alone is being lost at the rate of 2 acres a minute. The combination of these factors means that to feed and clothe this many people on the available land will require almost double the agricultural output of today. Throw in the fact that many of the inputs in crop production such as fertilizer and water are in limited supply and the need for more agronomists and agricultural research is clear.

The agricultural generalists are best equipped to produce “More with Less”. Crop production is limited by a series of yield barriers; the first barrier may be nitrogen, followed by water, then by solar radiation, followed by a different nutrient. Piecing together the mystery of crop yield will not be accomplished by a specialist but by someone versed in the interrelation of the myriad of factors responsible for plant growth, the agronomist.