no farms, no food.

i started buying my milk at the farm down the street from my boyfriend's house. not only does it taste so much better, but i know the farmer's are having a rough time right now because of the economy (at least up here they are). i like to know that my (little bit of) money is going directly to the people in my area who actually need it, instead of giving to companies like Hood.

It seems like the farmers are winning, at least in this poll. After driving past mile after mile of fallow fields on Interstate 5 last month I choose farms over fish. Some random thoughts:

The tax base in California has eroded enough without putting the farms in the central valley out of business.

Who has looked at the total effect on the Sacramento ecosystem of letting the delta smelt die off? Will it become a dead river as a result? Lots of unintended consequences associated with ecosystem decisions.

What would happen if Northern California didn't have to send so much of its water to Los Angeles so golf courses could be watered, pools could be filled and homeowners could hose off their driveways? Could the farms have water and the smelt be saved? Maybe the salmon fishery could be revitalized as well. One of the problems of politics is that a "system solution" is never considered.

There just isn't enough information here for me to make a decision - I'm not voting......

Kinda' like the Healthcare mess in the US Congress - - I'll bet that the vast majority of our 535 House and Senate members don't really know what is good for the country - Just trying to vote whichever direction is going to get them re-elected....

People trash the world for their own selfish reasons, tree-huggers be damned, but there's enough local farms for the people who buy from California farms to support that the CA farmers could go with a little downsizing.

What's that show... 100 mile race? Buy and eat food only grown within 100 miles of your residence. It's disgusting how many people would shrivel and die if they had to go without their imported Carmel Macchiato's but wear their Birkenstocks for social reasons.

Luckily for me there's a slaughterhouse about a half mile from my church.

Ha ha

I love to buy local, but finding produce and meat (other than seafood ) within a 100 miles of my house is tough! The Washington DC area is over 50 miles in diameter and how many cattle ranches have you seen on the Mall. Local agriculture around here is diapearing under asphalt and condos. The local butcher shop closed down because the guy who ran it retired and no one wanted to buy the business from him.

When I lived in the St. Louis burbs, it was easy to go to the farm next door (litterally) and buy fresh produce. My mother also had a nice garden where we grew our own -- try that with your Home Owners Association.

Now a lot of the farmers are not growing food stuffs, but crops to make ethanol since it pays better -- that does not help either.

My vote is for the produce farmer. There are not enough of them around, no matter where you live!

Michele

We buy fish and produce from locals. Crab, salmon and albacore direct from the fishermen off the boats. I was surprised to find the local produce guy selling sweet corn from Mexico. Go figure!