ALFALFA, Continued from Page 1
SPECIAL REPORT | IMPERIAL VALLEY FARMING
year-round sun, farmers can harvest alfal- fa up to 10 times per year, yielding twice as much hay as many other growing regions. “We probably have the highest yield and highest quality alfalfa in the world,” said Larry Cox, who farms in the Imperial Valley. Other factors, such as the crop’s toler- ance of the Colorado River’s high-saline water, the ability to store hay in the open without fear of weather damage and proximity to dairies and cattle ranches that purchase it, are additional benefits. “Nowhere can compete with here,” said Montazar, who is based in Holtville and has researched alfalfa for more than a decade. Harvested year-round, alfalfa serves as a reliable cash crop for Imperial Valley farmers while they rotate various specialty crops, including most of the nation’s win- ter vegetables. “It’s very helpful for them,” Montazar said. If the region’s base crop were taken away, researchers say, the frag- ile balance that makes the farms financially viable could collapse, jeopardizing not only alfalfa production but everything else. To operate as a sustainable business, each farm must consider factors such as supply and demand, soil health, labor needs, water use and input costs when choosing what to plant. Ultimately, the acreage is a mirror of consumers’ needs and desires, with each commodity planted proportionate to demand. Imperial Valley farmer Andrew Leimgruber mused that he would swap alfalfa out for quinoa if people preferred it
Bales of alfalfa hay sit under the sun by an Imperial Valley road- side near Calipatria. The high-protein forage crop covers roughly a third of the valley’s farmland and is harvested in the region year-round.
to pizza, hamburgers and ice cream. “We only grow what consumers want to eat,” he said. For now, alfalfa—essential to dairy and beef products—has seen growing demand, with prices at an all-time high. “Agriculture is all of us,” said Chris Scheuring, senior counsel for the California Farm Bureau, who farms in Yolo County. “There’s a disconnect between the way people behave in the grocery store and the way certain people talk about farming in general and alfalfa in particular.”
Naturally high in protein, alfalfa is a choice feed for dairy cows. Dairies con- vert it into high-protein foods such as milk, cheese and baby formula, which are consumed around the world. In the U.S., these products play an important part in food assistance programs, such as the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children, or WIC, which serves millions of people each year including nearly half of all infants. “It’s not like it’s being fed to animals
and then it’s just gone,” said Imperial Valley farmer Mark Osterkamp. Globally, California’s sizable presence in the alfalfa market is driven by a fluke in international trade patterns as container ships bringing goods and materials from Asia offer cheap rates to pick up hay rather than return empty across the Pacific. Growers and farm advocates argue that blaming virtual water exports on alfalfa
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4 Ag Alert March 22, 2023
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