The San Luis Obispo County Department of Agriculture/Weights and Measures has announced the release of annual production statistics for the local agricultural industry for 2009. Statistics can be found on the department’s Web site at www.slocounty.ca.gov/agcomm.

Total crop values for 2009 are estimated at a gross value of $623,095,000, compared to $602,922,000 for 2008. This increase is an improvement of approximately 3 percent, according to Bob Lilley, County Agricultural Commissioner.

“Many growers continued to feel the negative effects of the four-year drought in 2009. However, other than the lack of rainfall, the overall mild winter and summer temperatures provided ideal growing conditions for some of the county’s crops,”  Lilley said.

Wine grapes continue to hold the top position in overall value. Favorable weather conditions contributed to a 42-percent increase in yields over 2008 tonnage totals. The prices for San Luis Obispo County’s grapes declined slightly; however, higher yields created a 34-percent overall increase in value compared to 2008. Wine grape values were 27 percent of the combined value of the county’s entire agricultural industry.

The strawberry industry expanded by 370 acres to 1,893 total acres, a 24-percent increase over 2008.

Despite lower prices compared to 2008 levels, the local industry was valued at $73,198,000, an increase of approximately 12 percent over 2008.

Coastal avocado and Valencia orange trees suffered fruit loss due to one week of unusually high temperatures in June, 2009, resulting in significantly lower yields, compared to 2008. Lemon yields were high, but reduced consumer demand caused prices to fall.

The number of harvested acres of vegetable crops decreased overall, and some of the historically vegetable acreage was converted to strawberry fields. Carrot acreage decreased, and fields were fallow during 2009. Bell peppers and cabbage yields were increased over 2008 levels, and pricing was strong.

Overall, fewer acres were planted into vegetables due to changes in market demand and continuing drought conditions, resulting in a 6-percent decrease in overall value.

The local cattle industry rebounded slightly in 2009, due to fairly decent market prices. Herds were reduced in size, resulting in approximately 1,000 fewer cattle going to market, due to limited grassland forage as a result of four consecutive years of below-average rainfall. Total production for 2009 was valued at $51,992,000, compared to $50,050,000 in 2008, an increase of 4 percent.

An increase of approximately 1,000 lambs over 2009 herd levels contributed to the overall 3 percent increased in value of the animal category, compared to 2008.

The downturned economy and lack of new housing construction hit the local nursery industry hard in 2009. The total value for the nursery industry, consisting of indoor and outdoor ornamental plants, cut flowers and vegetable transplants, fell overall in 2009 by 8 percent, compared to a 5-percent decrease in 2008.

The cut flower, indoor decorative and ornamental plant growers suffered the largest losses in this category caused by reduced consumer spending, while the demand from throughout the state for locally grown vegetable transplants held steady.

The high demand in 2008 for San Luis Obispo County-grown alfalfa and grain hay from California’s Central Valley dairies disappeared in 2009 as Central Valley dairy herds were reduced.

Local growers planted normal acreage amounts but harvested lower yields due to continued drought conditions, and they received far lower prices compared to 2008. Overall, the value of field crops was 20 percent below 2008 levels.

The Crop Report is produced annually to provide current and historical production and value statistics of the local agricultural industry. Annual Crop Reports from 1968 through 2009 can be viewed at www.slocounty.ca.gov/agcomm.

For more information about the Annual Crop Report, contact Bob Lilley or Lynda Auchinachie at (805) 781-5910. To request a hard copy when the printed copies are available in June, contact the Agriculture Commissioner’s office in San Luis Obispo by calling (805) 781-5910.

Journalism senior Niki Burns spent $28 on food for the entire month of February and is posting her experience on her blog for her senior project. Mustang Daily - Leticia Rodriguez

When it came time for Niki Burns to decide on a senior project this quarter, she knew she wanted to do something about eating on a budget. What she didn’t anticipate was was having to feed herself for the entire month of February on $28.

“At first I didn’t think that was really possible, to only eat $1 of food each day but then once I started thinking about it more and more I realized there are ways to eat for free in San Luis Obispo,” Burns said. “Also I realized people are forced to have to live this way and if they can do it, then I hoped that I could.”

Burns, a Cal Poly journalism senior spent $28 on groceries at the beginning of the month and is documenting her experience for her senior project on a blog, located at www.eatonedollaraday.blogspot.com.

Burns hopes that by posting her happenings, others will see how it is possible to live on a small budget and want to challenge themselves.

The uniqueness of her own challenge and the “out of the box” idea is what excites her adviser, journalism professor John Soares. Soares said that as Burns documents the entire month of February, eating only food that she had bought at the beginning of the month with $28, or was free or that she traded or bartered from someone else, she is learning how to generate interest in an era when news is becoming more technologically based. Documenting her experience and her work with the Internet and social media such as Facebook is what makes her project relevant, Soares said.

“She’s doing a story, and it’s going to be newsworthy to a particular audience and that’s part of her senior project: to figure out who it’s going to be newsworthy to and putting it on the Web,” Soares said. “It’s going to give her an opportunity to figure out how many hits is she getting and kind of extrapolate who are those people that are actually going to the Web site.”

Creating her own blog is also giving Burns the opportunity to participate in a new realm of journalism.

“Blogging is a great venue just because it’s free,” Burns said. “It’s time efficient; it doesn’t take me very much time to type up everything each night and just let everyone know how each day is going, and how I eat. It’s just easy and it’s just a way to share your story with the community as a whole.”

Sharing her story and having everything online for people to see is what could land her a job against a competitor with just a résumé because she will be able to show her project and explain the problems or challenges she faced in the process, Soares said.

“The more that you can do, and in this instance, Niki’s project on doing this blog, synthesizing video skills, writing skills, new media skills, working with the web, working with traditional media outlets to gain popularity for a Web site and then all the problems that come along with that and how she solved all those problems within a compressed amount of time, well that just makes her look so good when she goes out there,” Soares said.

Initially, the idea of Burns doing the project to challenge herself wasn’t what worried her family and boyfriend. When Burns first approached her mom, Jennifer Burns, about the concept, Jennifer said she didn’t know whether or not to take her seriously. When she finally realized her daughter wasn’t joking around, Jennifer got concerned.

“I was really concerned about her nutrition, I didn’t like the whole idea. I was hoping she could think of something else to do,” Jennifer said. “I was just like, ‘Niki, you can’t live on a dollar a day,’ and she insisted that it could be done.”

Burns found out that convincing her mom she could do it was easier than the experience itself. By the second day, Burns admitted on her blog that she was “feeling less energetic” and by the fourth day was tired of eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, one of the only food items from her bundle of groceries purchased at the beginning that could be mass produced.

“I just really want nice salad,” Burns said. “I know that sounds like a lame answer, but I’ve really been craving veggies and I really like salads.”

She also came to the realization of just how fortunate she was to be able to eat out when she wanted and to not have to worry about hunger. Burns said the project has made her want to help out others whose reality is her month-long project, something her mom wanted her to walk away with at the end of the month.

“I hope that what she does learn out of it is the value of food and how blessed we are to have an abundance of it, that we don’t have to think about every dollar we spend on food so carefully, because so many people do,” Jennifer Burns said.

Knowing that she would have to make a relatively small amount of food last her for three meals a day for 28 days, Burns set up a list of guidelines on food that was considered free or food that she could accept before starting her project. During the month, Burns babysat a younger cousin for salami, taken fruit from a friend’s tree, traded a potato for an avocado and eaten at IHOP and Denny’s during their free breakfast days.

“I’ll cook my friend a meal if they cook me a meal or something like that, so I’ve done that a couple of times, and I’ve found different events where I’ve been able to eat for free,” Burns said. “Like Denny’s’ Free Grand Slam, IHOP and I ate at Woodstock’s I think, twice last week for free, just by writing a review about them.”

She wants people to challenge themselves and see that free food is available.

“I want people that can’t afford to eat out to see that there are free ways to eat out. Like there’s a lot for coupons out there on Web sites local restaurants,” Burns said. “I just want people to see there are cheaper ways to eat, maybe not eating a $1 a day but do something that would challenge them for the year because I think it’s important to experience different aspects of life and to always be challenging ones self otherwise you could get bored and get stuck in the same routine every day.”

It’s hard to find anything quite as good as a home cooked meal with fresh ingredients.

Finding the time between homework, classes and work to cook a fresh meal can be quite a challenge. If you live on campus you know first hand how difficult it is to cook your own meal and we can all agree it is a challenge to find food on campus that seems fresh and healthy. Yes, we do have fresh salad bars available but having a salad three meals a day becomes mundane fairly quickly. Don’t get me wrong, the dining service offers us many options and provides us a great service. We have full meals, snacks, drinks and study aids such as coffee available to us all over campus. But, the truth is, most of us don’t think about how our food gets from the farm to our plate. For the most part we eat what we eat because it looks good – whether or not it is actually nutritious. But where does our food come from? How is it produced? And how does the food get to our plates?

At Cal Poly our food comes from all over the planet. As an agricultural school, one would expect we could sustain our own food consumption. We have the infrastructure, the land and the right climate, but we still have to import our food from far away. We live in a place where we are capable of producing food close to where it is consumed. We have the ability to help our local economy by providing income for community members rather than income for huge corporations who use massive monocultures that spread diseases and viruses. So why don’t we? By convincing our campus officials, friends and families to buy local, organic and fair trade foods, we can be part of the solution, not the problem.

Luckily there is a whole foods movement sweeping the nation. As students, we have a voice. We have the ability to choose where our food comes from. The Real Food Challenge is a movement lead by students to promote local, organic and fair trade food on campuses around the country. Real food is healthy food, not junk food. Real food is fair. It comes from healthy people, local and abroad, that are treated well, not exploited. Real food is lead by the community not by corporations. Real food is not grown in ways that pollute the land. Real food is grown through sustainable agriculture to provide current and future generations with the necessities to survive. Whether or not you do anything about it, food justice affects us all.

Students at Cal Poly and around the country are working together and taking action. You can join them. Student from more than 300 campuses nationwide are working together to pass initiatives on their campuses. Here at Cal Poly, the Empower Poly Coalition is leading the fight for food justice. With the help of Slow Food and the Organic Farm, we are working to provide you, the students, with fresh real food.

More than 200 students from across California are gathering for food justice from February 12-14 at the University of California, Santa Cruz. The summit, which is called Strengthening the Roots: Food and Justice Convergence teaches participants how to acquire the best techniques for your campus. Cal Poly will be represented, but all students are invited to join the fun and attend the convergence.

For more information on how you can get involved here at Cal Poly, please email empowerpolycoalition@gmail. If you would like to learn more about the national Real Food Challenge movement or are interested in attending the Summit at UC Santa Cruz this February, please go to realfoodchallenge.org.

Chow restaurant opened in November and features a combination of Asian cuisines on the menu. Courtesy photo

At first glance, the simplified, bright blue façade of the restaurant lends its appeal to something other than traditional Chinese, Vietnamese or Southeast Asian eatery. Chow, San Luis Obispo’s newest addition in Asian dining, is a combination of cuisines, blending traditional regional ingredients, served in an upscale presentation with a twist of imagination.

Chow, which opened in November, was created by Robin and Shanny Covey. In 1985, Robin and his business partner Shanny opened Robin’s in Cambria, and later introduced Novo, with an international blend concept.

In 2006, Novo closed its doors while being retrofitted, and “Little Chow,” as Robin calls it, opened next to the Palm Theatre in what remains of San Luis Obispo’s Chinatown. Popular and celebrated, Little Chow was the first phase of the restaurant that has now been expanded on Monterey Street. Once Novo reopened, Little Chow closed and efforts were redirected again to the San Luis Obispo lounge and restaurant.

“I thought Chow was going to be another run-of-the-mill, average take on Chinese or Vietnamese food,” journalism sophomore Evan Stoecker said. “After I had the crab and the duck, I noticed the flavors had a quality that you knew required substantial time and effort.”

What sets this restaurant apart from others is the unique attention to detail and noticeable artistry on and off the plate.

As you enter Chow, an open interior with a bamboo rock garden lit by skylights separates the restaurant and bar space.

Slightly out of the ordinary is the restaurant’s Tatami room, a traditionally Japanese enclosed setting, in which guests are welcome to sit on the floor while they eat.

Novo chef Justin Gabbert heads the kitchen at Chow. Covey described his experiments with menus as a “shoot-from-the-hip” tactic.

“I never quite know what I want to do until I’ve tried it,” he said. “Chow is really proud to source many ingredients from local farms and producers. I often walk the farmers’ markets and pick a variety of produce to use in our kitchens. The great part is that we special order much of our spices and harder to locate items through local distributors and we are able to trade between restaurants.”

Covey said he is proud to prepare house-made noodles for his dishes, despite the grueling, laborious task of doing so each day. To him, the difference is the definition of his restaurants: preparing quality ethnic foods while reinventing the experience.

Chow’s stir-fried marinated beef (more of a chow mein) is among the most frequently ordered dishes. Even more decadent are the Kalbi short ribs with kimchi, Jasmine white rice, and julienned carrots and onions with stir-fried sugar snap peas.

To start, savor the spring rolls filled with rice noodles, lettuce, fresh herbs, daikon, cucumber, carrots and sweet chili sauces, served with peanuts and a ginger-soy syrup. The amount of flavor that is packed into these rice paper-wrapped rolls is surprising.

Next, order the spicy Chinese chili crab. This dish is spicy, but not overpowering, and will be the subject of the night’s conversation. Don’t forget to order a foreign beer or glass of wine to accompany the flavors; the list of beverages is extensive.

“I never had crab before. I wasn’t sure if this would be too fishy, meaty, lean. I was pleasantly surprised and would definitely consider ordering crab in the future,” Stoecker said.

A hearty dish to share (most of the entrees are family style so sharing is ideal) is the duck. Sweet and tender, this dish is served with delicate crepes to go along with the hoisin sauce instead of the ordinary plum sauce. Wrap the crepe around pieces of the meat, and it’s like eating Asian tapas.

Chow’s price points are lower than Novo (about $13 per entrée, the highest being $22). For an even better deal, grab lunch specials Monday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Chow is located at 1009 Monterey St. in downtown San Luis Obispo. For reservations, call 805-540-5243 or visit www.chowslo.com.

Bethany Abelson is a food science senior and Mustang Daily food columnist. Her column, “Kosher in the Kitchen” is a weekly column that will appear on Thursdays.

What do beer, Kombucha and Amish friendship bread all have in common? Besides the fact that they all taste delicious, they are all fermented foods and beverages you can make. Home brewing beer has become a common activity for many Poly students because it is fun, cheap and interesting. Kombucha may be something you have never heard of — it is a fermented tea used for medicinal purposes. Lastly is Amish friendship bread, which is fermented bread that takes 10 days to make. Each of these is fun to make, and I suggest you try them all. So get out that yeast, ’cause it’s fermentation time.

Beginning with the drink that takes the place of water for many students — beer. Any home brewing Web site can tell you what to buy and what to do. Many of my food science friends brew and are generous enough to share their finished product. One thing to remember when home brewing is that you have to bottle your own beer. It may seem like a pain to do, but it’s kind of like adding your own personal touch to each bottle.

Moving on to the drink that cures all illnesses — Kombucha. One of my good friends and fellow food science major David Fintel, president of Progressive Student Alliance, not only grows it himself but drinks it daily. The easiest way to start a batch is to buy a small bottle in a store then add it to a carboy and your own tea.

There are many recipes online as well for making Kombucha. Some health claims made from drinking it include increased energy, better skin, better eyesight and better digestion of sticky foods like rice or pasta. These health benefits vary, and it is important to remember this will not happen for everyone since we all react differently to foods and drinks. Though I do not drink it on a regular basis, I have tried Fintel’s home brewed batch. It made me feel good, because it is a natural product with many enzymes that just makes you feel healthy.

Last, but certainly not least, is my personal favorite, Amish friendship bread. Another one of my fellow food science friends, Sheena Merani, introduced me to it, and since I loved it so much, she gave me a starter kit, and I have not looked back since. Even though it takes 10 days to make, this is worth it because it tastes amazing!

You have to get a starter kit from someone else in order to make your own. Once you have one, follow the instructions your friend gives you, and it’s smooth sailing from there. It tastes sweet and pleasant and will have all your friends begging for more. It’s a great way to meet people or even keep in contact with people. On the last day of the process, you take out three cups to give to three different people as their starter kit.

So if you thought brewing your own beer was out of reach, or you wanted to try something new like Kombucha or Amish friendship bread, I hope this column was informative. When you are thinking about what to give your friends for the holidays, try making your own beer or Amish friendship bread as a personal gift and after they have that, introduce them to Kombucha to make them feel better after holiday treats.

So just follow this motto: fermentation all the way, because you are just a cup of yeast away!

During my most recent trip to Ralph’s grocery store, I found myself standing in the produce section  debating which variety of apple to select. Some of the Gala Apples boasted a United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Certified Organic sticker and had a price tag listing of $2.29 per pound. The others simply labeled “Gala Apples” had no indication of being organic and cost $0.49 per pound.

I found myself wondering: Is buying the organic option worth the extra money? It seems that every food now comes in an “organic” variety, from spaghetti sauce to packaged cookies to fresh produce. When faced with a decision between two varieties of food, one costing less than the other, college students might be inclined to pick the cheaper option.

After some research, in most cases, I would say that buying the organic option is not worth the extra cost. As a cash-strapped student, I could do without a 50 to 200 percent price increase on groceries and feel that the evidence regarding health effects between non-organic and organic is too inconclusive to take into account.

Before delving into my reasoning, the term “organic” should be made clear. According to the USDA, “Organic meat, poultry, eggs and dairy products come from animals that are given no antibiotics or growth hormones. Organic food is produced without using most conventional pesticides, fertilizers made with synthetic ingredients or sewage sludge, bioengineering or ionizing radiation.”

How much more does it cost to go organic? I went into a local grocery store with a small list of things I typically buy on a weekly basis.

Here are a few of the 10 items I compared:

Non-organic Grade AA eggs (12 eggs): $2.99 vs. Organic Grade AA eggs (12 eggs): $4.99

Non-organic 1% milk (half gallon): $1.99 vs. Organic 1% milk (half gallon): $4.79

Non-organic Gala Apples (1 pound): $.49 vs. Organic Gala Apples (1 pound): $2.29

Non-organic Ragu pasta sauce (10 oz): $2.63 vs. Organic Ragu pasta sauce (10 oz.): $3.99

Based on this list, the difference in price for non-organic vs. organic was $13.66 or a 58 percent increase. The food items I looked at are just a portion of what I usually buy each week. I generally spend about $80 per week on groceries, which if increased by 58 percent would be about a $46 increase. In a year, I could potentially be spending about $2,400 more on groceries by switching to a completely organic diet.

Is it worth the extra cost? Rob Rutherford, a Cal Poly professor of animal science, describes why he chooses to buy organic food.

“Health is a condition of homeostasis. There is a balance of all the microorganisms in the soil. If we do something to destroy the balance of the soil, we are destroying the balance of food and the balance of us,” Rutherford said.

His reasoning for this all goes back to a quote that says that humankind owes its existence to the fact that there is six inches of soil and the fact that it rains. These natural phenomena should not be tampered with, he said.

While Rutherford might think that using pesticides destroys the natural balance of nature, some studies show that eating organic vs. non-organic do not show any drastic differences.

In a study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, it was determined that there were a small number of differences in nutrition between organic and conventionally produced food but not large enough to be of any public health relevance.

What should you buy?

Another study, published by the USDA, found that if deciding to go on a partial organic diet, a few food items should always be bought organic due to consistently higher levels of pesticide residue in their conventionally grown counterparts.

Based on an analysis of more than 100,000 U.S. government pesticide test results, researchers at the Environmental Working Group (EWG), a research and advocacy organization based in Washington, D.C., have developed the “Dirty Dozen” fruits and vegetables: apples, cherries, grapes, nectarines, peaches, pears, raspberries, strawberries, bell peppers, celery, potatoes and spinach. The “Dirty Dozen” all have a very thin skin, which makes it easier for pesticides to seep in.

As organic foods gain popularity, I think prices will decrease. For the time being, however, I plan to buy based on what research has discovered by buying the “dirty dozen” produce organically whenever possible, and sticking to conventional foods when it comes to processed food to save some cash. In the long run, I would like to add more organic foods to my diet when my budget allows, not just for the potential benefits on my health, but also for benefits organic farming has on the environment.

Katie Koschalk is a journalism senior and Mustang Daily reporter.