Sugar plums with bloom on, 2010 harvest
- Canning Peaches – 2010 Harvest
Do you value food? How about eating? Me too! Growing up a stone’s throw from Disneyland and the beach, I never gave much thought to where my food came from other than I knew I could always find a colorful array of produce on my kitchen table compliments of my mother and I loved the taste. Then I discovered California Agriculture! Here – in California! Who knew?!?!? What an “ag-wow” moment!
My life was forever changed as I was insatiably hungry to know about where my food came from and how I could contribute to feeding my family and yours! For most of my life, agricultural awareness was the farthest thing from my life radar. After all, dirt was associated with farming. And there was no room for dirt, much less farming, in the heart of Orange County. Boy, was I naïve. I am grateful, however, that my thirst for learning has always motivated me to learn. And my desire for knowledge of agriculture has empowered me to feel in control of what I eat, what I grow and how I use my consumer buying power. As a mother and a consumer, I want to know that the food I eat and prepare for my family is safe and nutritious. I also want to know that technological advances are occurring to keep the food safe and that those same technological advances include research to protect my family against disease and find cures for existing diseases. To that end, almost 10 years ago, my husband and I started farming together…fresh sugar plums, canning peaches, alfalfa and kids. We grow some of the tastiest stone fruit…with hard work and pride. Not to mention that we also grow some of the healthiest, safest and most nutritious produce in the world. Our kids are pretty cool too! I love what we do and I love advocating for California agriculture.
I still like visiting Orange County, but my role has shifted from consumer to producer. My understanding of the food supply chain - from field to fork – is much greater than it has ever been. I love sharing my story and I love farmers! What do you love to do? Do you have your own “ag-wow” moment?
Located in the Central San Joaquin Valley and passionate about a domestic food supply, Karri Hammerstrom is an agricultural advocate, educator, and a small farmer of stone fruit, alfalfa and children!
Tags: agriculture, California agriculture, consumer, Disneyland, family farmers, Orange County, peaches, produce, sugar plums
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Big ag is not where it’s at. REAL people concerned with their health and eating nutrient dense foods DON’T want GMOs and crops treated with all kinds of chemicals! We want small locally sustainable organic farmers who KNOW that the key is in the soil! Mineralizing the soil produces healthy crops (that need NO chemicals) and the healthy crops truly nourish the people eating them or the animals eathing them who then nourish the people eating the meat from these animals …out on pasture! NOT caged, NO CAFOs, NO CFOs or other factory farms.
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Food Declaration and Tammi Jonas, Katie Lukens Pinke. Katie Lukens Pinke said: Hear directly frm a California #mom as she dug into where her food comes from & is now a family #farmer #kacf http://ow.ly/3oAsZ [...]
I farm because my husband and I have made a conscience business decision to do so; and it is a lifestyle of hard work that we eagerly embrace. I feel it is a way I can do my part to contribute to a domestic food supply, as well as help to feed the world and its growing population. With just over 80,000 farms and a population base of almost 37 million people in California, there is room for every type of farmer in the marketplace. I don’t agree with you comments or support your position. However, fortunately, we live in a nation where we are free to express our opinions, and if Americans can afford to purchase organic products that, too, grows agriculture and I support that. All farmers and progressive farming practices are needed to feed the world. I support buying California grown commodities, cutting-edge technologies, and opportunities for the betterment of all agriculture and the environment as it is in the best interest of my children and my family.
What is stone fruit?
@1burdette
Ellen-While I also support organic and locally grown agricultural products, you are part of a growing problem with an uneducated public that is further and further removed from the reality of modern day agriculture and what is truly need to feed a growing nation. Your comments are short-sighted and inflammatory. Farmers of every kind should be celebrated for their hard work, innovation, and continued stewardship of land. We cannot all have backyard gardens…that is not sustainable, nor practical for feeding a hungry nation and world. Embracing new technologies that are proven safe does not make you “BIG” agriculture. Farmers, like K Hammerstrom, are very REAL and more then that…they are REALISTIC. Please, continue to make choices that you feel are in your best interest, but an educated consumer should have a better understanding of the various farming methods so as to make truly educated food buying decisions rather then giving in to the rhetoric you quote. I have two young children and I make decisions based on what I know about California Agriculture. I support buying food grown in this State and that includes food produced by a wide variety of farming methods. This website is all about supporting the agricultural industry in this state and the wonderful things they produce. I admire K Hammerstrom for telling her real life story and helping to educate a sadly misinformed consumer. Thank You!
Wow! Some great dialogue and I think this is probably the reason Know a California Farmer was created~ so that we can engage in conversations.
I am a fifth generation rancher and I am proud of what my family does to provide a safe, wholesome product to consumers. I am proud to say that we are natural beef producers and when the calves leave our ranch they do go to a feedlot, I am not embarrassed by that.
One thing I have learned as we move ahead in what seems to be constant dialogue between conventional, organic, grassfed, natural, cage free, etc etc is that we as American farmers and ranchers provide many CHOICES and those choices are made available to consumers to choose.
What might be good for one farmer or rancher might not be feasible for another just like what is good for one consumer may not be good for another.
I personally know K Hammerstrom and her family as well as many of the other contributors to Know a California Farmer, people who have differing views only make us all better to know what is out there. K Hammerstrom and her family are a REAL deal with a high sense of pride and commitment to their family farm.
As a rancher I dont tell others how to ranch, and as a consumer I do not believe we should be telling others what to eat. We are ALL in this together- lets keep our eye on the big picture – there is room for all types of agriculture.
Great post Karri!
Celeste I am with you on CHOICES!
I’m not sure what Ellen means when she says “REAL” people. As opposed to unreal people? She wants food that is not sprayed with chemicals but then says she perfers organic. I work with ogranic crops and they spray chemicals too. So, again, not sure what she means or what she wants. Maybe she doesn’t know either. But hopefully she will take the time to learn and ask questions and maybe learn some REAL facts and not just parrot sound bits she hears elsewhere. There are many non-organic pest management tools that are as safe and usually more effective than some othe ogranic spray options. There is room for all kinds of soultions that, when used by trained, responsible farmers can offer the bounty we all enjoy.
I am a fourth generation farmer/rancher in Calfornia. Over the years I’ve seen many changes in the choices farmers and ranchers can make in marketing their product. Be it organic, natural – whatever the label, you need to find the product you are comfortable feeding your family. Regardless which you choose, you are supporting agriculture. As California farmers and ranchers, we appreciate the support to our industry.
I grew up on a farm where we used pesticides and herbicides, but there weren’t many other options, and certainly not affordable options, for farmers to protect their crops from bugs, disease and incliment weather. Today my family still farms. No we are not organic, but we do not apply any pesticides or harmful chemicals to our land or crops as you imply of every non-organic farm. I assume you wouldn’t buy our product because we’re not labeled as organic. I say, ok by me, we live in a country where we are lucky to have options. We also live in a country where we have the means to get to know farmers through social media and websites such as this. Ask questions, be an informed consumer. You will most likely be surprised at what you can learn. We all don’t have to agree on how to eat, but like Celeste said, we’re all in this together. We need to support our own California farmers more than ever to ensure future generations have a safe, affordable food supply grown by proud California farmers!
Because my side of the family does not come from a production agriculture background, I am constantly reminded about the need to explain things and communicate issues in more consumer friendly terms. However, I don’t often talk about what we do or how we do it, in much the same manner that a teacher or a banker or a waitress also not does share, because we often consider what we do to be routine and mundane. My CHOICE is to support CA’s agricultural industry…and engage in organizations with like-minded goals to leverage my knowledge, my voice, my choice.
I do not believe that we (the US) needs to “feed the world”. Each country needs to become sustainable themselves. God gave us what we needed to grow real food without chemicals and without “new technology”. God gave us seeds as they should be. We don’t belong messing with what He has given us. Genetically modified seeds and foods are very bad for you and your health. http://www.responsibletechnology.org/
As I said, when you mineralize the soil well, it produces healthy crops (that need NO chemicals) and the healthy crops truly nourish the people eating them or the animals eating them who then nourish the people eating the meat from these animals …out on pasture! Nutrient dense foods come from healthy mineralized soils. BUGS AND WEEDS ARE A RESULT OF A MINERAL DEFICIENCY IN THE SOIL.
Great information at http://www.acresusa.com and http://stockmangrassfarmer.net/
Jerry Brunetti is very knowledgeable about the soil, nutrition and health. If you really want to know about your health and your children’s health, check out http://www.westonaprice.org and http://www.nourishingourchildren.org
I want food that is nutrient dense…grown in good mineralized soil. When the soil is mineralized the BRIX level in the food is good and the better nourished the body is. Disease comes because of lack of nutrients – minerals. I choose someone growing non-organic but in mineralized soil with high brix levels over someone growing organic and not!
And minerals that are good natural minerals – not synthetic ones!
A strong activist of ending world hunger, Microsoft founder Bill Gates at the 2009 World Food Prize Symposium gave a compelling speech on agriculture, emphasizing the important role technology such as biotechnology is playing in combating world hunger and stressing that the current fight over biotech crops is hurting the cause against world hunger. He said, “Some people insist on an ideal vision of the environment. They have tried to restrict the spread of biotechnology into sub-Saharan Africa without regard to how much hunger and poverty might be reduced by it, or what the farmers themselves might want.” Today, over 800 million people or approximately 13% of the world’s population are poor and malnourished. They live on less than a dollar a day and cannot be sure that their fields will yield enough food or that they will earn enough money to buy food.
We absolutely have a moral obligation to not only feed the world, but share our research and technological advances with the world. The global population is expected to be 9 billion by 2050 and that will require a doubling of food production in the next years. That can only be done through technological advancements as we can’t make more land. Crop protection tools that include the use of ag biotechnology have enhanced the well-being and environmental stewardship of communities through more efficient pesticide use, reduced soil erosion, lower water consumption and greater yield. Further, scientists are working to develop biotech crops that may actually be safer and more nutritious than conventional and organic crops because of the inclusion of beneficial and non-allergistic traits; examples include: rice which has been developed with higher levels of Vitamin A (a vitamin needed to prevent illness and blindness); future biotech soybeans which may produce lower levels of saturated fats and be devoid of trans-fatty acids in vegetable oils; and future allergy-free peanuts and soybeans which will benefit up to seven million Americans who suffer from food allergies.
Farmers and ranchers are true American heroes. They are stewards of the earth, compassionate about agriculture, and providers of food, floral and fiber. To yield healthy, plentiful harvests and lighten our environmental footprint, we (me, farmers and families) seek economically and environmentally appropriate options, and solving problems like world hunger, disease, climate change, and limited natural resources such as water and farmland requires a whole range of solutions. Ag biotechnology and its ability to provide answers and solutions to heal, feed and fuel the world is a powerful and promising tool essential to “growing and harvesting” solutions that will benefit all of us. Agriculture is more than food, fiber and flowers. Agriculture touches everyone. Products we use in our everyday lives come from plant and animal by-products produced by US farmers and ranchers.
I reviewed you links. Sadly, they are infused with propaganda. I would strongly recommend that if you would like to research factual information on biotechnology, check out the following resources:
• American Farm Bureau, http://www.fb.org
• Biofortified, http://www.biofortified.org/
• California Department of Food and Agriculture, http://www.cdfa.ca.gov
• California Foundation for Agriculture in the Classroom, http://www.cfaitc.org
• California State University Program for Education and Research in Biotechnology (CSUPERB), http://www.calstate.edu/csuperb/aboutus/
• Council for Biotechnology Information, http://www.whybiotech.com/;
• Feedstuffs Foodlink, Connecting Farm to Fork, http://www.feedstufffoodlink.com
• Farm Policy Facts, http://www.farmpolicyfacts.org
• International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA), http://www.isaaa.org/
• U.S. Department of Food & Agriculture, http://www.usda.gov/
• U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, http://www.epa.gov
And, BTW, “BRIX” refers to the sugar content in fruit. The higher the brix, the higher the sugar content which is desirable in some commodities, but not all. It have more to do with the varietal planted than the soil inputs.
Interesting stuff. I find it refreshing that people can disagree and still have a conversation without name calling and badgering. In a perfect world (which this isn’t), I would agree with Ellen that each country should be able to sustain their own population, but the reality is that’s not the case. If we closed our doors and kept the food in, I’d hate to think what would happen to the rest of the world.
I wish there was a different answer, but farming is a global industry weather we like it or not. Thanks for the great dialog though, gives us all something to think about.
For Burdette, “stone fruit” is fruit with a pit or a seed in the middle. Exmaples include: peaches, plums, nectarines, cherries, olives.