Farming History and Trends
After the gold rush, fruit continued to be a major crop in the foothills of the western Sierra with peach, pear, and apple orchards eventually becoming firmly established. Advent of the railroad, followed by the refrigerated boxcar, allowed the Sierra fruit industry to market to a national audience far beyond the Sierra region. By the 1920s, Placer County was the "Fruit Shipping Capitol of the World," shipping over 69 million tons of fruit and nuts across the country.
The coming of the Central Pacific Railroad in the late 1860s bolstered the fruit industry in the Sierra. "Fruit expansion was slow, compared to the halting advance of the Central Pacific Railroad. Yet, when the golden spike was driven in Promontory, Utah, in 1869, more golden fruit appeared. In a two year period, from 1868 to 1870, Placer's fruit growers planted 47,478 trees… this spurt was largely attributable to the completion of the Central Pacific, which opened a seemingly inexhaustible market. This marked the beginning of a new "golden" era for the fruit cultivators of Placer County in particular, and California in general." Placer County Fruit Industry" The History of Placer County Horticulture, 1850-1900, Placer County Historical Society
As transportation methods evolved and Central Valley agriculture advanced in the early 1900s, farming in the Sierra Nevada began a slow decline. At the same time, the creation of national forests and the increasing need for wood products to supply a growing population throughout the state led to the rise of timber harvesting as the dominant economic activity in the region.
With improved transportation and accessibility, farming spread into more of the Sierra, including areas located far from the urban centers. This brought the next wave of farmers to the Sierra foothills. In El Dorado County, for example, population had decreased steadily from a peak of 40,000 in 1852 during the gold rush era to only 6,400 in 1920. But renewed interest in farming - due to transportation improvements and the growing influx of recreational users who provided new markets for locally grown farm produce - reinvigorated the agricultural sector, especially in the fruit-growing counties of the central Sierra.
Unlike previous agricultural producers in the region, farmers in the new wave depended less on farming as the sole provider for their livelihoods. In 1935, almost 60 percent of the farmers in Alpine County worked for pay in jobs not related to the farm (Henshall 1996). Such statistics foreshadowed the more recent proliferation of subsistence or hobby farmers – part-time farmers who work the land for enjoyment and/or home consumption – while making their actual living in some non-agricultural activity. This trend, where at least one person works off the farm or ranch as a way to provide health benefits and more stability for the family budget, is growing, even within commercial-scale farms and ranches. Changes in technology have driven changes in farming practices. Center pivot irrigation was made more affordable as energy became less expensive. Now, as water tables are dropping and the price of energy continues to rise, irrigation practices are again shifting to a more targeted approach. When mechanized tools replaced work animals, farmers did not have to grow as much hay, and were able to change crops, timing and layout of their fields. In general, Sierra Nevada agriculture is surprisingly diverse. As agriculture in the rest of the state becomes more specialized, the Sierra Nevada region has remained an area of abundant small farms.
Sierra agriculture is comprised of "semi-subsistence and part-time farms producing a great range of crops and livestock, including many exotics. Off-farm employment has enabled many marginal small farms to survive. Farmers practicing organic agriculture have been increasing in number over the last decade."
"Agriculture in the Sierra" SNEP Report, vol. II, Chapter 17
No matter how you look at it, agriculture has always been a tough business. Each year, farms go out of business in the United States. Some farms are just not big enough to survive decreasing profit margins. Other farms are not able to adjust to changing market conditions. The farms that survive are able to grow larger and more efficient or grow higher value crops and find a viable niche in the marketplace. In the successful Sierra Nevada farms, we see one or both of these tendencies. In many areas, ranches are growing larger. In other areas, farms find high value crops, such as organic produce, they can market directly to restaurants or sell at higher margins. Through expansion into economic sectors such as tourism, agricultural operations have branched beyond only providing food and fiber commodities. By adding a tourist element to the operations such as running a bed-and-breakfast, a camp or a direct sales outlet on the farm, the agriculturalist creates new connections with its surrounding community and region.
