These Workers Help Keep Food Flowing Through the Golden State

About this episode

The episode revisits stories about the workers who keep food flowing in California, focusing on the Oakland Produce Market and the maintenance of irrigation canals in the Central Valley.

This week, we’re revisiting two stories from Lisa Morehouse's series, California Foodways. California’s fruits and vegetables make a lot of stops on the way from the fields to your table. One of those places is the Oakland Produce Market, which supplies small markets, restaurants and other food providers with the freshest foods. You don’t have to work for a grocery store or run a restaurant to shop here, as long as you buy in bulk. Lisa got up in the middle of the night to meet some of the people who keep the Oakland Produce Market humming. Then we head to farm country, where you often see signs that say “Food Grows Where Water Flows.” The system of canals and reservoirs that feeds farmland in the Central Valley is one of the biggest in the world. But irrigation canals are also places where people dump unwanted objects, like toilets, furniture or shopping carts. It’s Big Valley Divers’ job to clean and maintain the canals and the dams that send water to farms. Lisa spent a day in Colusa County to learn all about the unusual job that keeps the water flowing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

People in this episode

Host: Lisa Morehouse

Topics covered

• food supply
• agriculture
• water management
• California foodways
• market operations
• irrigation systems

Keywords

• California
• foodways
• Oakland Produce Market
• irrigation
• Big Valley Divers
• agriculture
• water flow
• Colusa County

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: KQED, Big Valley Divers

Places: Oakland Produce Market, Central Valley, Colusa County

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