Central Coast, California | In my area there are no corn or soybeans at all. For the last 30 years the biggest conversion of rangeland has been to grapes and then houses and ranchettes. There has been massive over planting of grapes and at least 40,000 acres of grapes were torn out last year. Some of that has been planted to avocados or citrus or better more popular varietals but most is left to sit fallow or they leave the vines and blight there for all to see. The only part of the grape business that has been profitable lately is the tourism. There are enough boomers around who want to sit and sip wine in a hoitey roitey tasting room that it's keeping some afloat. The houses have continued where there are people with enough cash and fortitude to get permits through the government.
There is not much synergy between wine grapes and cattle. Some people might graze some sheep between the rows. A few people try feeding the pumice to the cows but it's about like wdg and not many have been successful at it.
Not far away in the central valley there are guys feeding cattle but they have the water and infrastructure for it. We run pairs in the far flung places and the hill and sell bawlers right off the cow and most of those calves have been going to the Midwest this spring. |
In my area
