These Workers Keep Produce Moving In the Golden State

Listen to this and more in-depth storytelling by subscribing to The California Report Magazine podcast. This week, we’re revisiting two stories from the series, California Foodways. While Oakland Sleeps, a 100-Year-Old Produce Market Bustles With Life 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. For her series, California Foodways, Lisa Morehouse got up in the middle of the night to meet some of the people who keep the Oakland Produce Market humming.  The Crucial Job That Keeps Central Valley Water Flowing  In California farm country, 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. For her series California Foodways, Lisa Morehouse spent a day in Colusa County to learn all about the unusual job that keeps the water flowing.  [ad fullwidth]