I'd grow organic almonds - the econometrics doesn?t pencil. You give up more than half of your production (insect pressures) and you lose another 20-50% in adjustments for quality issues in processing (split nuts, chips, and insect damage). You could net more dollars/acre before the organic market collapsed (just like it did in all the other crops) but not today and not anytime soon. I'd like to grow two or three acres as a test plot 100% organic just for the learning experience. I'd be unwilling to gamble the whole crop on it because it takes several years to get certified organic, and the costs to get there are very high.
Speaking of organic: anybody see the CNBC special "Marijuana, Inc"? I have a hard time watching it because 1) growing pot isn't that hard if you can get it out of a closet and 2) I have never ever ever burned (not even a cigarette) and 3) that's a lot of money man!
Stories like this one in the LAT make "Mr. Squeaky Clean" consider that he's just been a moron for the past three decades.
<a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-fi-dope-county1-2009nov01,0,6540031.story">http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-fi-dope-county1-2009nov01,0,6540031.story</a>
<blockquote>Education has long been preached as a way to keep kids away from drugs. It's the walk to school that has Supt. Tom Barnett worried.
This hardscrabble Northern California town has become a hotbed for medical marijuana farming. Kids stroll much of the year past pungent plants flourishing in gardens and alleys. The red-and-black clad Timberjacks football team moved its halftime huddle on a recent Friday night to avoid the odor of marijuana smoke wafting over the gridiron from nearby houses. Some students talk openly of farming pot after graduation, about the only opportunity in this depressed timber town.
"It's not a subculture here," said Barnett, who heads the Mountain Valley Unified School District. "Marijuana is drying in their houses. It's falling out of their pockets."</blockquote>
I hear that high grade stuff is worth $400 an ounce (okay, I had to make a phone call). For a while you could legally hold 3 pounds of dried stuff, 12 mature plants, and 24 immature plants for "personal use". $14,400 in bud for in personal use...
[Bill Cosby]"Personal use. <em>RIGHT.'</em>[/Bill Cosby]
Since this is the IHB, and we are housing related, look at these stats:
Estimated median household income in 2007: $33,118 (it was $22,824 in 2000)
Hayfork: $33,118
California: $59,948
Estimated per capita income in 2007: $18,964
Hayfork: $18,964
Califonia: $28,678
Estimated median house or condo value in 2007: $223,679 (it was $80,800 in 2000)
Hayfork: $223,679
California: $532,300
Keep in mind, the last industry in this town was logging, and that's now gone. I'm a horrible gambler. Without being too obtuse, I missed this gravy train too.
