Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
had in more than a decade, production of beets quickly passed 15,000 acres
in 1932 and 25,000 acres in 1938 (see fi gure 4.1). This movement back and
forth between vegetables, sugar beets, and other crops points to a complex
calculus of annual decision making for growers in the valley. Sugar beets
were just one crop that growers could choose to plant. The decision to
grow a certain crop was based on a multitude of interrelated factors, includ-
ing experience, fi nancing, soil conditions, access to water, and the overall
capital intensiveness of the crop. Among all these factors, one overriding
concern governed a grower's crop choice: which crop would bring the
greatest monetary return. Unfortunately for Spreckels, this calculus often
went against sugar beets and in favor of other crops. The growth of vegeta-
ble farming, especially lettuce, encouraged a kind of speculative agricul-
ture, much like the “mining” style of wheat farming begun in the 1860s
when wheat prices were especially favorable. Despite the fact that lettuce
is diffi cult to grow and requires a large investment just to bring a crop to
market, it can be one of the most profi table crops of all when its price is
high. This “green gold” seemed especially lucrative throughout the 1920s
because the demand and price for vegetable crops were very high.
The movement back to sugar beet production in the 1930s pointed to
one advantage that sugar beet production had over vegetable production:
price stability. Because Spreckels usually offered growers a set price for beets
when they signed a contract at the beginning of a crop season, growers
could count on a minimum level of return from their investment, given
good climatic conditions and the successful growth of a beet crop. There-
fore, when commodity prices for vegetables were low or expected to be
low, growers often turned to sugar beets. When prices for vegetables were
high, they moved again to produce “green gold.” This movement between
vegetable crops and sugar beets points to the evenness of other basic pro-
duction factors that growers considered when comparing vegetable and
sugar beet growing. For instance, both vegetables and beets require irri-
gated land, pest control, and large amounts of hand labor to produce a
crop.
One way for Spreckels to make sugar beet farming more appealing was
to change the factors that were the same for both beets and vegetables so
that one of them would go in favor of beet production. Water needs were
non-negotiable, as were requirements for good land; both vegetables and
beets did better on good land that was irrigated.
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Similarly, the prices of
