Recently, as I drove toward Dixon on Interstate 80 from Davis, cars were braking suddenly and the root of the problem were people gawking at fields of beautiful sunflowers. To avoid the mess, I took Pedrick Road and just past Vaughn, I noticed several cars scattered alongside the edges of the road and even onto farm lands with a bunch of people out taking pictures of the fields of sunflowers.

I admit the flowers looked like they were from Heaven, practically glowing yellow. I wanted to stop, too, but remembered the warning I saw from the Solano County Sheriff’s Department via their Facebook page:

“Several farmers throughout the county have seen an uptick in passersby stopping on the side of the road to take photographs inside of the privately-owned fields. There are several reasons why this is not the best idea.

First, selfie seekers, your one-shot might cause a negative environmental impact on the scenic crops you are trying to show an appreciation for. Secondly, entering privately-owned land without consent can be deemed trespassing. Lastly, a pileup of vehicles alongside the roadway is a traffic concern for us all.”

According to one Dixon farmer, the sunflower species is dioecious. This species have male and female plants with only one set of reproductive organs per plant. So, there are male and female sunflowers. When you see the smaller sunflowers, those are the males, and their job is just to create pollen. The females, which are the larger ones, produce seed. 

Farmers bring out pollinators (you'll see boxes of bees) for bees to carry the pollen from the males to the females and there is no cross contamination of the genetics from a different field. Basically what a farmer is doing is offering the bees an all-you-can-eat buffet in hopes they pollinate only their field.

The bees' job is to take the pollen from the male flowers from that field to the female flowers in that field. What you don't want is pollen from another field into your field. Sunflowers are a very tricky game in the farming business. Your farm can only be a certain  because you are breeding seeds. So if you go from one sunflower field to take pictures of another field, you could be carrying the pollen from one to another.

There can only be a small amount of genetic variance within the seed when harvested and brought to the processor. If that variance exceeds the allowable contracted amount (for example, it is more than 5 percent for example but note that variance can be different for different farming contracts,) it is considered not as pure and can be a lower pay to the farmer.

Have some respect, officials caution, and stay off private property. If taking photos from the roadway, park safely.

If you insist on capturing the glory of the happy flowers from the private fields, you might want to ask the farmer for permission first so you’re not considered a trespasser but an admirer instead.