The Stinking Rose meets "progress"

Sad news but inevitible... From CBS/AP:

Garlic Farms Getting Cleared Out Of Gilroy
People enjoying the Gilroy Garlic Festival Saturday may not know that while the garlic may seem plentiful the area's garlic farms are disappearing.

Only three growers remain in Santa Clara County because of land-use pressure, economics and plant disease.

Garlic farmer Louie Bonino's farm used to be 40 acres, but the small farmer's crop now only covers 10 acres.

The county's garlic production has fallen due to economic pressures that have sent farmers east to the San Joaquin Valley and to China, where labor is cheaper.

And the ever-growing presence of strip malls in Santa Clara county have pushed garlic farmers to the land's fringes.

Soon, many small farmers say, Gilroy's famous garlic may be a thing of the past.

Sad news -- Gilroy is the Garlic center of the USA.