Is America Bipolar?

[Wake-up!]

I would humbly suggest that Coastal America starts looking at "local agriculture" as more than some hipster, boutique food fashion selling blue potatoes at $7.99 a pound or kale chips for dogs at $8.25 a bag. You guys better start figuring out how you're going to FEED that oh-so-superior population majority you keep throwing in our face after this election. Because I think Middle America is getting about done with feeding the ungrateful and whiners. Yes, you have a population majority. But let's see you feed them.

See link to much more:
https://www.lewrockwell.com/2017/01/jack-perry/seeds-secession/

[Diane Amberg]

Uh... with the big trend on the coasts back to local farms and much of the midwest grain crops being sold else where already, (speaking of Russia) if the middle stops farming, where will they get the money for things they don't grow?
We would still be just fine. It's much more complicated than that post. Summer crops sold here are grown here including potatoes, lima beans, corn,and much more. Sadly the pickle plant closed and Green Giant isn't as big here as it once was. New Jerseys still a huge grower of tomatoes, but smaller than it once was also. Imports are cheaper.  Many winter fruits etc. come mostly from Chile, not the mid west. Our Dole bananas come on huge ships right into the docks in Wilmington and are held in ware houses for distribution to many states. Not one comes from the mid west. The lettuce train still comes here from California and that is still a coastal state, as far as I know. It hasn't fallen off yet. Our off season corn, tomotes and strawberries come from Florida, (and some produce from Mexico) also a coastal state. Of course citrus comes up from Florida and we see the Tropicana orange train coming through Newark on it's way to market. It's nifty to see, very long and has the big Tropicana emblem on all the cars. Next door in PA., there is a huge fresh mushroom industry that provides the common white and other fancy kinds to in this area and on to the big restaurants and markets in  Philly and NYC. The mushroom canning industry isn't what it once was because of cheaper imports.
California is still a huge grower of fruit, vegetables and nuts. That is hardly a mid western state. We are feeding ourselves just fine, thank you. Our farmers' markets are thriving. I can't imagine why you would think otherwise.

[Wake-up!]

I think the point was, if California were to secede, they would no longer get grain from the midwest growers. Not that the midwest might stop growing food.

Local markets are there, they are provocative, they get press, but they do not come close to providing food to the masses. They are, unfortunately, a niche market, albeit a fun one. Walk your local grocer's aisles and note where all the packaged stuff comes from. Our local grocers have very very few regionally produced, packaged food, or fresh food for that matter. Assess in your mind what a ten-day labor strike in the transportation industry would do to the shelves. Our food industry is too heavily dependent on transportation. We do need more regional and local producers. California is in no position to feed their masses. If they find independence, they will become a severely dependent importer of food, much as Japan is. Any transition toward self sufficiency will not happen overnight.

Part of the problem, in my opinion, are the so-called trade agreements. New Jersey has California lettuce and California augments what it grows by buying Mexican lettuce. The Palouse of Washington and Idaho grows a bunch of soft white wheat. Very little is locally processed. It is shipped to Japan where noodles are made and packaged and resold to Washington and Idaho stores. Trade agreements can easily lead to market inefficiencies and shortages. And almost always, higher prices.

My last trip through California was 2005. The once productive San Joaquin Valley had abandoned fields and processing facilities by the mile (I think Youtube pictures of it are still on-line, much like the 'scenic' tours of Detroit's descent into poverty are.). Water shortages have a lot to do with it. California agriculture also needs to shift to dry farming, away from irrigation. If the irate liberals get their secessionist way (and I hope they do), they can have no expectation of getting any Colorado River water. It is all subject to change. A friend living in San Francisco says conditions have only worsened. She's adamant that the economy from Marin County south to the border is now dominated and controlled by the Mexican drug cartels. People in her neighborhood are jokingly referring to Mexico del Norte.

Here is a link to a .pdf file of The Monkey's Claw, for those interested in a quick read.
http://www.shortstoryamerica.com/pdf_classics/jacob_monkeys_paw.pdf

[Diane Amberg]

Did you enjoy the story?
I do understand exactly what the popular blogger had to say. I just don't agree with acting nasty to the coasts in the process. I don't like his threatening attitude. Yes, a severe transportation crunch could be devastating to some areas. We have trains, planes, trucks and ships here for transportation. (Duh, stating the obvious.)
The Amish here grow a lot of wrapper tobacco and it's all done by horse drawn machinery. I've never seen how they get it from their farms to the tobacco companies though. Perhaps they send trucks to the farms to pick it up.
Of course water is a very big deal for those having severe shortages. I know that you know that for the states, coastal or not, that depend on migrant labor to follow the seasons, even the illegals are needed, but nobody talks about it.
Like you, I enjoy looking to see where some of our shipped food comes from. There are some countries I won't buy shrimp from. I don't trust their growing practices. I also think our merchandising habit of only selling picture perfect foods leads to a lot of waste.
I grew up in the country and we grew a lot of our own fruit and veggies. Imperfects weren't discarded, ever. That's what a paring knife was for...HA!

[Wake-up!]

I read waiting for the punchline, or the big drama. My expectation was deflated when the money turned out to be in exchange for a life. Oops, there I go, giving away the story line. Then the end of the story left me dangling, as in 'is that all?'. I'm not sure what the author expected the reader to discover or understand.

This probably is heading us away from politics and toward the coffee shop, ay? Have you ever read Marion Zimmer-Bradley? If not, give Shattered Chain and Thendara House a read. If you like them, you can read the other nearly two dozen books in chronological order. Bookstores list her set of books, aka The Darkover Series, in scifi or fantasy. But they are really neither. And if you happen to like either of those genres, her stories are so much more.