CONTEXT

Imperial Valley, California is called ‘America's winter salad bowl’ as the agricultural sector produces 2/3 of the winter vegetables eaten in the U.S. However, there is little understanding of the interplay of policy, environmental conditions, and economic components of the agricultural system producers face in the valley.

OBJECTIVE

Using a resilience approach, this study asks the research question of how producers in the Imperial Valley perceive and are adapting to changing conditions.

METHODS

Through interviews with eight agricultural producers, this paper identifies current challenges and strategies producers employ to navigate a changing agricultural system and build resilience for the future.

RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS

Results highlight the critical role of government policies in the establishment of agriculture in the Valley, while producers see recent policies, such as labor and food safety regulations, as increasing their operation costs. Producers face economic challenges including losing contracts to Mexico, market price fluctuations, land leasing, and the COVID-19 pandemic. Maintaining access to water resources and investing in mechanization and technological innovations are two strategies producers use to maintain resilience and navigate change.

SIGNIFICANCE

Understanding how producers remain resilient given ongoing, and often accelerating, political, environmental, and economic change is critical to maintain agricultural systems in California and beyond.

中文翻译：

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“你必须有弹性”：生产者对驾驭美国加利福尼亚不断变化的农业系统的看法

语境

加利福尼亚州帝王谷被称为“美国的冬季沙拉碗”，因为农业部门生产了美国冬季食用蔬菜的 2/3 然而，人们对政策、环境条件和农业系统的经济组成部分之间的相互作用知之甚少生产者面临山谷。

客观的

本研究采用弹性方法，提出了帝王谷的生产者如何感知和适应不断变化的条件的研究问题。

方法

通过与八位农业生产者的访谈，本文确定了生产者当前面临的挑战和战略，以驾驭不断变化的农业系统并为未来建立弹性。

结果和结论

结果突出了政府政策在山谷农业建设中的关键作用，而生产者认为最近的政策，如劳工和食品安全法规，增加了他们的运营成本。生产商面临经济挑战，包括失去与墨西哥的合同、市场价格波动、土地租赁和 COVID-19 大流行。保持对水资源的获取以及对机械化和技术创新的投资是生产者用来保持弹性和应对变化的两种策略。

意义

了解生产者如何在持续且经常加速的政治、环境和经济变化中保持弹性对于维持加州及其他地区的农业系统至关重要。