Her hands deep in newly plowed soil, Janine Goubert gently placed the walnut seeds in the ground, hoping for rapid and vigorous growth. Stanislaus County farmer Jerry Goubert plants walnut seeds in a 30-acre field. While Goubert and family may wait up to six years for the first crop from their 30-acre orchard, they hope for a swifter turnaround in a depression which threatens their future and that of many other farmers and ranchers. Prices for many farm products are depressed, while the cost of fuel, fertilizer, labor and many other expenses have soared.
Times are as tough as many growers can recall.
Kaiser will try to grow cotton and other crops on 500 acres previously used to grow sugar beets. His family s 40-year history of beet growing ended last season with the December closure of the Holly Sugar Plant in Tracy, which operated since 1917. It s not an easy thing to walk away from. Steve Kaiser, a diversified grower based in San Joaquin County, is struggling to make a living on the family farm. Jim Morris Kaiser said he contemplates a future away from the farm.