The valley was not always so polluted. My grandfather was born in Turlock, California in 1910. He grew up on a ranch with dairy cattle, and at the age of 18 he bought his own dairy. During the Second World War, he also worked in shipyards as a welder. In 1937 he married and bought some acreage in Ceres, California about 5 miles from Turlock. He bought a truck, hauled cement, and developed that venture into a trucking business. My grandfather wanted to earn enough money to support his family well and save money for retirement.

My grandfather was a successful farmer; he would disc the ground in a way that would prevent soil erosion. Also, he would only farm the land for six years consecutively, letting it lie fallow in the seventh. To water his crops, he ran a pipeline from the Ceres canal for irrigation. He would get up at 2am to milk and feed the cows (he had one hundred cows on average), then work in his trucking business until nightfall.

The valley was made up primarily of small family dairies. There were five different family owned dairies on the same road as my grandfather's place. The neighbors helped each other harvest their midwinter feed; the wives would bring food to the farm being harvested to feed the men while they worked. But in the 1950s milk buyers began to exclusively buy milk from large dairies, because it was more convenient. Due to large dairies gaining the majority of the market share, in 1958 my grandfather sold his cows and had the land leveled for almond trees.

My dad was born in 1948, and he lived in Ceres until he was 18 years old. He had three brothers and two sisters and they grew up on the ranch with beef cattle, pigs, chickens, and rabbits. The boys helped their father farm the almond trees, always planting a cover crop to put nitrogen back in the soil. His mother did all of the cooking, down to skinning the chickens. His mother and sisters also made their own butter and milk from the dairy.

While growing up, my dad always had his own garden where he grew radishes, turnips, onions, corn, and tomatoes. He learned how to grow vegetables from his grandfather, and still has a garden in his backyard today. He told me that people did not worry about the environment when he was a child because no one thought it was an issue at the time. His family would try to farm the ground in a way that would allow them to gain the most profit. They tried to take care of the soil to prevent such disasters as the dust bowl and that is why agriculture in California's Central Valley has been so successful.

Dad remembers when the valley was open ground, covered with mostly barley and pastures, or weeds. He saw the open ground changed by agriculture. Much of the valley was transformed into a land filled with grapevines and fruit and nut trees. In addition, the climate has changed; when my dad was a child there was no humidity in the air and now he can feel the humidity. This change in humidity may be due to the large amounts of water used to irrigate crops.

My dad has also seen an increase in dust. More dust was created as machines were used to harvest, replacing manual labor. For example, almonds used to be harvested with bamboo poles and rubber mallets to knock the almonds off the trees. Now a machine knocks the almonds off the trees, puts them in rows and picks them up. The machines blow dust into the air, which seems to linger, creating "hazy" days.

My dad remembers spraying DDT on the trees with only a tee shirt and cutoff shorts for protection. They did not know at the time how harmful the pesticide could be. Due to the overuse of DDT and other chemicals currently known to cause cancer, today there are so many state and federal regulations on pesticide use it has created confusion for the farmers trying to decipher the code.

Recently, the population in the Bay Area has overflowed, causing a housing boom in the valley. Those in the housing industry, ready and willing to make a profit, took advantage of the situation by building new housing tracts. This caused ill feelings among farmers and valley residents, who strive to keep the towns small and the farming industry healthy. New valley residents, who are largely Bay Area commuters, have created much more traffic, increasing the amount of smog. The traffic has contributed to the brown skies in the valley.

My favorite time of the year in the valley is spring, when the skies are clear and the orchards are blooming. When orchard after orchard of fruit and nut trees are blooming, it looks like snow. But, the old ranch in Ceres was sold to someone outside of the family, and the new owner cut down the almond orchard. Now when I drive by all I can see are stumps- this sight breaks my heart. There is hope that some day the air pollution will decrease, especially since the Department of Food and Agriculture passed a code in 1997 that requires UC Regents to establish a pest research center that will review and prioritize pest-related research activities conducted through the University. At the same time, I hope the San Joaquin Valley can remain the largest agricultural producer that feeds the world.