Ayala Corporation is a company that specializes in labor management within the agriculture sector, in the San Joaquín Valley. Its founder, Piedad Ayala works daily with his agricultural clients to maximize their crop production.
For years the Valley has been affected by water shortage problems. Lately Federal laws have made this critical problem worse. Due to environmentalist’s strong protest, a federal judge made the drastic decision to severely cut down water supply by limiting pumping during critical irrigation periods.
As a result of this, the Valley’s agriculture economy has been damaged and thousands of acres have been fallowed by the lack of water. Thousands of workers have lost their jobs and are no longer able to support their families.
We must become better informed about the water problems ahead because it involves all of us. Our lives, the citizens of the United States and the world over all depend on the food we produce here in the San Joaquin Valley each day.
We are not the bread basket of the world; we are the Valley which provides the world with a cornucopia of bread, nuts, fruits and vegetables.
With abundant water we are able to produce nut crops including pistachios, almonds, and walnuts. With abundant water we are able to produce tomatoes, garlic, onions, lettuce, peppers, asparagus and melons. We in fact have over twenty five diversified fruits and vegetables that are grown in the San Joaquin Valley on a large scale. Without water farmers have to change their crop mix to grains, dry farm or fallow land. Here you can see how a lack of water can affect a tomato which was shorted the water that it needs. Cut in half it is dry, tasteless and juiceless.
Here we see wheat which is a basic element for many products such as bread, cereals and tortillas. The grower invests key elements to grow a crop. Water is one of the most important elements in order to achieve a high quality, abundant wheat crop. Here we highlight a Pistachio crop that has been water deprived.
The trees have a self-defense system and will drop or shed fruit which it cannot sustain due to lack of water or other elements. When pressing the shell it is full of air because it hasn’t been able to develop properly. Without water these trees will die within a couple of years.
Many vegetable crops require abundant water to produce. The vegetable crops are also more labor intensive and provide more jobs and stimulate the economy. With less water farmers must cut back on vegetable production. As consumers, the public needs to be informed of how these products get to their stores everyday. Fruits, nuts and vegetables are not manufactured, they are grown. Without water it is impossible to grow them.
Onions, shown here, are very labor intensive and require a lot of water for their growth. Onions produced in the valley are distributed all over the world.
Ayala Corporation initially was going to protest by itself and send a representation of its workers to Sacramento. The Ayala staff then researched the best way to get the most attention to benefit farmers. Ayala Corporation decided to join forces with the Hispanic Water Coalition and organization a Rally to the Sacramento Capital. Out idea was to not protest the lack of water and federal decisions; but instead to support those whom are trying to help our situation. We decided to support the joint efforts of Governor Schwarzenegger and Senator Feinstein by supporting their 9.3 billion dollar water bond.
In order to finance such a big rally, we asked that the farmers, managers, cities and businessmen that have been affected by the water shortage donate monetarily to help with the financing. The support was almost overwhelming at first and five busses turned into 10 which in turn turned into 24 busses by Rally time.
We thank you for your support and helping to send a message that was heard LOUD and ClEAR. From the very beginning we were able to capture the eye of both the English and Spanish media outlets. The organizing of the water rally took many working hours to accomplish. We want to thank all of the volunteers whom worked tirelessly for days on end.
We would like to thank the hundreds of families who made the arrangements to participate in the protest. We would like to thank the individuals whom were in charge of making signs with messages such as “WATER = JOBS” and “WATER = OUR FUTURE”.
We would like to thank each of the bus leaders whom attended a meeting in Riverdale the day before the Rally to be informed of the events details. We would like to thank those whom organized the food and beverages for both breakfast and lunch for all those whom attended the Rally. Logistically we were able to send 24 buses as well as private cars various places in the Valley.
We spread the word of all the people who want a better future for their children and for coming generations. In Sacramento there were meetings with legislators and representatives from different towns in the Valley who came to support the campaign. Buses began to arrive and the Capital gardens were crowded with people cheering “WE WANT WATER”. The TV media stood with their cameras at the entrance to cover the event.
At 12:30 p.m. everything was ready and Mayor López announced the event opening with governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s message. The people listened to each of the speakers’ messages respectfully, but always claiming, “WE WANT WATER”. The event concluded with Piedad Ayala thanking all the participants and the elected officials. “This is the very beginning,” Ayala said, “we must spread the word to every person to gather more supporters and get our representatives to solve the water problem, for all of us to have the future we deserve.