Well, Phil, I worked up and down the Central Valley of California for thirty years, and I had a lot of contact with ag people from farmworkers to ranchers to processors to USDA officials. I guess the only crop that I myself personally saw destroyed, was a huge supply of marijuana that the sheriff and fire chief of Madera County were burning when I went to interview them (I was hoping, but the smoke had no effect on me). But I often saw fruit in Dumpsters; and I heard tales of excess milk being dumped and of produce that was dumped because it did not meet the size or quality specifications of marketing orders. I also heard stories of substances being poured on dumped produce to make it inedible - not creosote, but other noxious substances.

So, I still believe that creosote may have been dumped on excess oranges to make them inedible and thus unmarketable. You made a valiant effort to disprove Woody and Steinbeck (and me), but I don't buy your argument yet. I know California agriculture at many levels and find the use of creosote credible -although I don't have knowledge of it beyond Guthrie and Steinbeck. Woody didn't have much ag experience, but Steinbeck certainly knew the Central Valley and its agriculture well. I saw excess crops being dumped and read newspaper reports of dumped crops being made inedible; and since creosote was readily available on every farm, the use of creosote to destroy dumped crops seems entirely credible.
-Joe-