Consolidation in Organic Agriculture - CCOF

VValley Center is the avocado capitol of San DiegoCounty. East of Escondido, its hillsides and hilltops arecovered in citrus and avocado trees. Many farmers,recently affected by the fruit fly infestation now haveseen some or all of their groves simply go up in flames.The Paradise fire here left scorched trees and earth asit roared through the canyons and hillsides arbitrarilyblackening some areas and not others. The CaliforniaAvocado Commission estimated that as many as 450acres of avocado trees burned, destroying 3.3 millionpounds, albeit a small percentage of the area’s total of75,000 tons.out the burned groves. Fire-roasted avocadoshang from burned trees like Christmasornaments; a macabre tale of devastation.The once verdant and lush hillsides alongValley Center Road are now blackened dirt,rocks and twisted dead trees.Laney Villalobos watched the Paradisefire from her home in Pauma Valley. Herfarm was untouched by the flames butwhat she saw shocked her. “Forty to fiftymile-per-hour gusts (offlames) up a hill in tenminutes, top to bottom,”she speaks in amazement.“How lucky are we?” Shehas plenty to say aboutthe reasons the fires wereso uncontrollable. “Thisis what happens when you don’t managethe forests. Hindsight is 20-20.” She wondershow fires like this will be avoided inthe future.Laney wants to see the Department ofForestry get back to clearing the underbrush.She feels that not using controlledburning or allowing animals to graze isdestructive practice. “The deer are gone,now. There’s no sage, no (protected) toad,just total destruction.” Shebelieves there has to be analternative than to grantthe environmentalists alltheir wishes, and ads,“Grazing is beneficial.” Shehopes things will change toprevent another occurrenceof the devastation like shewitnessed.In the mixed organicand commercial avocadogroves Peter Simmons“It could have been worse.”Peter Simmons sweetly jokes,“God must like organic stuff!”Avocado grove manager Peter Simmonsmanages, new water lines are alreadyinstalled to irrigate the groves that burned.Peter unwillingly admits his exhaustion.His family home was spared as the wildfiresswept over the hillsides where the 80 acreshe manages grow. Thirty of those acresburned, but “by sheer coincidence” onlyone and a half acres of the organic groveswere hit.The wall of fire, “Fifty yards high andhundreds of yards long,roiled over the groves withblack smoke, filled withan orange center offlames.” It came throughso quickly that it burnedthe ground litter, leavesand fruit, and then left intime for him to work smothering hot spotsin the groves. He will know the extent ofthe damages come spring, but for now thisyear’s crop is a total loss. And the next oneor two crops as well, depending on the waythe trees recover.“Nature is a complete gamble…you haveto do everything right.” Peter reflects onthe last 30 years of managing the groves.He questions the need to continue farmingthe location and feels tired.His certified avocado grovelost 50 trees, a third of hisproduction. He sees housingtracts being built closer andcloser to his family’s ranch.Peter lives in the groves,and they are his life andlivelihood. “It could havebeen worse.” He sweetlyjokes, “God must likeorganic stuff!”AJer-Lyn Farm owners Lynda and JerryGoldberg don’t have too much trouble estimatingtheir loss. They know every tree ontheir small farm intimately. They boughttheir dream home in Escondido in 1999.The accompanying groves were painstakinglyrestored to life over the next fiveyears. They were evacuated from theirhome, a beautiful showcase that definesthem and their dedication to the land,when the fires were approaching. Untilthey returned after the flames abated theydidn’t know if their home had become afire casualty, but it stood there “like anoasis” and the daunting task of rebuildingwhat was lost would begin.TheGoldbergspainstakinglypracticedorganicmethods torestore anavocadogrove almostdead whenthey boughtit. They are not daunted by the task of theclean up and restoration. Their love fortheir land, organics and each other willensure that the home they first thoughtthey were buying only “for the view” andits accompanying 3 acres of groves on thesteep hillside will flourish again.A light rain is falling in San Diego County.That’s what we need here. Light, frequentrains to penetrate the ash and regenerate life.Too much water will run off the denudedhillsides eroding the topsoil with it. The rightamount of water will bring life back to thehundreds of thousands of acres destroyed.Winter 2003–2004 Page 15