REAPING RICHES IN A WRETCHED REGION: SUBSIDIZED INDUSTRIAL FARMING AND ITS LINK TO PERPETUAL POVERTY
Lloyd G. Carter is a Fresno County (CA) Green with a long resume in both journalism and law. He was recently published in the Environmental Law Review, Golden Gate University, same title as this post. You may have heard about Sean Hannity and the use of Fox News to propagandize the water situation in California’s San Joaquin Valley. They would have you believe it is about farmers vs. a little minnow. Lloyd has another story.
At nearly 1000 square miles, the Westlands is still dominated by a few pioneer dynastic families although congressional backers of the San Luis Unit half a century ago promised that 6100 small family farms would be created if Northern California river water was brought to the desert on the West Side of the San Joaquin Valley (Valley).6 The promise was never kept, and the larger landowners are still in control. While Westlands, considered one of the nation‘s most politically powerful irrigation districts, has produced an undisputable bounty of cotton and field crops over the decades in western Fresno and Kings counties, irrigation of this mineral-laden desert has also created huge environmental problems, and the wealth generated has not trickled down to farmworkers or the surrounding poverty-stricken communities.
This story, in one fashion or another is playing out in every every state. We need more leaders like Carter who can deliver.
