Our Valley Business: Dairies closing because of milk overflow [Visalia Times-Delta]
Tulare's big co-op, Land O'Lakes, has shuttered 17 of Tulare and Kings counties' dairies in a buyout program to reduce its milk supply by at least 6 percent. The move was made necessary by continued bulging milk volume delivered to Tulare's LOL plant for processing. In a March 16 letter to suppliers, Pete Garbani, LOL director of milk supply western region, said LOL had no place to put it all….Faced with the inability to process all that milk, the cooperative offered incentives for local dairies to accept a buyout, and today, there are 17 fewer dairies shipping to the cooperative. Others at LOL have cut back, resulting in a reduction of a reported 1.1 million pounds of milk a day. Production limits are in place until June.
Harsh words, lawsuit threats greet MID plan to sell water to SF [Modesto Bee]
Critics let the rhetorical barbs fly Tuesday about the Modesto Irrigation District's proposed water sale to San Francisco. And later Tuesday one member of the Modesto City Council raised the possibility of legal action…. The MID and San Francisco released a draft contract last week that envisions the city buying 2,240 acre-feet per year, about 1.2 percent of MID's average farm deliveries.…The MID ultimately could sell 27,200 acre-feet, about 15 percent of its annual farm deliveries, at prices to be determined….The May 22 vote includes the first sale and the launch of roughly a year of study on the larger transfer….Ron Peterson, president of the Stanislaus County Farm Bureau, said its members are willing to upgrade the MID system via water rate hikes greater than the one approved Tuesday.
http://www.modbee.com/2012/05/08/2191827/harsh-words-lawsuit-threats-greet.html
Op-Ed Commentary: Legislation would restore water, balance to west-side Valley farmers [Sacramento Bee]
…Westlands Water District supports both HR 1837 and Sen. Feinstein's language in the Senate Appropriations bill….The ultimate question is, are we going to sustain irrigated agriculture on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley? If yes, changes to federal law will be required to stem the economic decline in the Valley until long-term efforts to implement a Bay Delta Conservation Plan and to build conveyance facilities are completed….Farmers on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley do not want to steal anyone's water. They merely want to regain access to the water in a full Shasta Reservoir that they are paying for.
http://www.sacbee.com/2012/05/09/4476108/legislation-would-restore-water.html
Tense talk takes place over solar land fallowing [Imperial Valley Press]
Tensions rose after an already dramatic start to the meeting as Imperial Irrigation District board members argued Tuesday about whether to wait or continue on with a fallowing program for land converted for solar projects. In the end, though, the board voted 3-2 to move forward instead of staving off discussion for a week to allow lawyers another chance to review the policy. Assistant Water Department Manager for Resources Planning and Management Tina Shields presented a policy that would allow the district to sign agreements with solar developers who are converting agriculture land for their projects in order to fallow the land. The proposal, which had been before the board a couple of times in April, would allow the water that would have gone to that land to be used instead for portions of the water transfer or environmental mitigation to reduce the impact to IID users.
Bill would give break on Calfire fee to landowners who pay local fire fees [Ukiah Daily Journal]
If you already pay a fee or assessment to a local fire department, as many property owners do who depend on volunteer firefighting services in rural areas, you could deduct that fee from a state CalFire fee, under a bill moving through the state Assembly. A bill to do that has been approved by the Assembly Natural Resources Committee….Under Chesbro's legislation, AB 2474, property owners who live in SRAs and already pay an assessment to a local fire agency would be able to deduct that amount from the state SRA fee. As a result, those who pay a local assessment of $150 or more would be exempt from paying the state fee.
http://www.ukiahdailyjournal.com/ci_20580978/bill-would-give-break-calfire-fee-landowners-who
Avocado-killing pest identified at UCR [Riverside Press-Enterprise]
A UC Riverside researcher has identified an Asian beetle that has damaged avocado trees in the Los Angeles area. Plant pathologist Akif Eskalen determined that the beetle, called the tea shot hole borer, and the fungus it carries, fusarium, are the same ones that have damaged commercial avocado groves in Israel. Still unclear is how widespread the infestation is or how big a threat it might pose to California growers, he said. There is no known treatment for either the beetle or the fungus. Avocadoes are grown commercially in the hills near Temecula and in northern San Diego County. In 2010, Riverside County’s crop was valued at $24 million. San Bernardino County growers raised about $1 million worth that year.
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