In the scorching hot Imperial Valley at the southern end of California, Bryce Lundberg stands chest-high in quinoa, “a crop that is thriving in an unexpected place,” says the Los Angeles Times in a front-page story. “If the harvest proves profitable here, California could dominate yet another niche crop, as the grain-like seed graduates from health-craze fad to a popular ingredient in energy bars, cereals and even drinks.”
Quinoa acreage could climb into the thousands in the next two years in California, which already is the hub for imports of the pseudo-cereal from its native South America. “Is quinoa California farmers’ new kale?” asks the Times. The crop is grown is Colorado, the Pacific Northwest and in Northern California. Lundberg’s eight acres of quinoa near Brawley is the Southern California outpost.
“Nothing has been easy about quinoa,” says the newspaper. The plant is nearly identical to lambs quarters, an invasive weed, which makes alfalfa growers skeptical of it. Bolivia has claimed cultural sovereignty over quinoa. And when exports from Andean nations boomed, critics said subsistence farmers were being deprived of their food supply.
To read more about quinoa and controversy, check out FERN’s “The Quinoa Quarrel,” by Lisa Hamilton, which won a James Beard award.