Professor Produce

How is it even possible that California produces so much food? I'm used to four seasons, and I don't understand how I can buy organic lettuce from California all year long.

Not unlike California itself, this question is topographically complex. I could say something short and sweet, a pat answer such as, "Imagine paradise. Now doesn't it make sense you can have a Caesar salad in paradise any time you want?" But that would be ground level, and this Professor is really more interested in the peaks and valleys (literally!) of this question. In fact, over the years, I have yet to stop learning about and being amazed by the wonder of human effort and ingenuity that is California's agricultural system. Farmers are truly on the front lines wrestling with nature every single day out there, taming and brutalizing that final frontier of human survival: the ability to have any kind of food that can grow, at any time one desires.

Of course, lettuce doesn't grow by human effort alone (although it's a decent bet that a lab somewhere is working on that). California is a unique and staggering state that boasts extremes: temperatures ranging from -45 degrees F to 143 degrees F, extraordinary elevations and the lowest recorded point below sea level in all of North America (Death Valley). This impressive range of landscape folds itself into an impressive range of agricultural opportunities, and as a result, many of California's seven primary growing regions boast between 250-365 days of growing season annually. That means while you or I are munching a refrigerated carrot and watching the snow fly from behind our windows, somebody in California is yanking a carrot from the ground and munching it in the warm glow of the sun at the same time; or picking a ripe mango or snacking on an avocado or even an almond. And when we're pulling the carrot out of the ground? Yep, they still can, too.

How is it done? I'd rather try to explain how the Universe is expanding and exactly what dark matter is, but let's continue with the lettuce, as you suggested, for a concrete example. In areas of the central and southern coasts, lettuce is planted from late November/ December to mid-August, harvesting continually from early April to November. When this protracted season ends, production switches to the southern deserts, where lettuce is planted from mid-September to mid-November for harvest from early December to February. And finally, in the central valley, plantings are made from early November for harvest in March and April, thus managing to have some area of California producing lettuce for the entire country during any time of the year. The crops shift regions like this on the basis of the weather, and as lettuce ends in the central valley, they start up a crop that will grow in the new season's climate. Meanwhile, orange and persimmon and mango orchards are producing nearby. That is how you squeeze every kind of productive plant into every available growing space year round.

Frequently people will complain about the quality of products like lettuce in the wintertime. I am pretty magnanimous about the issue, because many of us have simply grown up expecting things like lettuce. It's a given: the sun rises; I breathe to live; the store has lettuce; and so on. In fact, it is nothing short of a very specific example of the times we live in; yet another miracle of the modern era. It helps bring the reality home if you imagine trying to convince someone to drive a salad across the country for you before it goes bad and pay him $2 for the trouble. Good luck, right? Yet this is exactly what happens with California produce every day, albeit on a large scale. It starts to make even organic lettuce seem cheap at the price.

Although unquestionably impressive, there are myriad environmental (and labor!) issues that California struggles with as a result of this intensive pressure to produce year-round. We as consumers can choose to ease this strain by using our food dollar to support local agriculture whenever it is available, and in the wintertime, we can give thought to what we eat and how our food is being produced. You just might find a salad of roasted root vegetables from Harmony Valley, WI (available now and throughout winter) makes a delicious or at least "cents-able" option to your California Romaine sometimes... even if it has come straight out of paradise.

For a mind-boggling sample list of commercial crops grown in California, check out: www.wrpmc.ucdavis.edu/Ca/CaCrops/state.html

If you have a question for the Professor, please email me at professorproduce@wedge.coop! Not all questions submitted will receive a response.