California's Central Valley farmers struggle with worker shortage [Sacramento Bee]
…Growers throughout the fertile Central Valley are wringing their hands as they struggle to find the manpower they need…."We're just not seeing the number of people we (usually) see this time of year," said Bryan Little, director of farm labor affairs at the California Farm Bureau Federation. Steward, president of the Sacramento County Farm Bureau, said he has only a fraction of the 40 workers he depends on to tend the 1,000 acres of vineyards he manages in Amador and San Joaquin counties…."I hope what we've seen is an aberration," Bruce Blodgett, executive director of the San Joaquin County Farm Bureau, said of the labor shortage….But Chuck Dudley, president of the Yolo County Farm Bureau, said the implications for American food consumers are severe if shortages worsen.
http://www.sacbee.com/2012/06/04/4536048/californias-central-valley-farmers.html#storylink=misearch
Bullet train faces new legal challenges [Los Angeles Times]
Central Valley farm groups filed a major environmental lawsuit Friday against the California bullet train project, while Orange County transportation leaders urged state officials to shelve the $68-billion proposal until improvements can be made to the existing passenger rail system. A preliminary injunction to block rail construction planned for later this year was requested in Sacramento County Superior Court by the Madera and Merced county farm bureaus, along with Madera County and additional plaintiffs. The project is already facing other suits, and still more agricultural interests in the Central Valley are gearing up to add to those battles. "We think a preliminary injunction against construction will occur because there were so many violations in the authority's environmental impact report," said Anja Raudabaugh, executive director of the Madera County Farm Bureau. The plaintiffs say that in their area, the rail project would affect 1,500 acres of prime farm land and 150 agribusinesses, including a major ethanol plant.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-bullet-train-suits-20120602,0,6813560.story
Congress split over San Joaquin River funding [Fresno Bee]
The San Joaquin River restoration plan once again divides the House and Senate. On Friday, the Republican-led House took up an annual energy and water spending bill that pointedly omits any funding for restoration of the river. The Senate's bill, by contrast, steers $12 million toward efforts to restore water and salmon to the channel below Friant Dam.
http://www.fresnobee.com/2012/06/01/2858055/congress-split-over-san-joaquin.html#storylink=misearch
Editorial: California Peripheral canal coming soon [San Francisco Chronicle]
While the future of a proposed high-speed railroad to move people in California remains in doubt, a proposed giant canal to move water from Northern California to the south appears almost assured - with a little help from Washington. Now the questions are: How big? And whose hand is on the spigot?...For the Bay Area, including the 3 million residents and businesses who depend on delta water, many questions remain: How can the state commit to building a canal if we don't know if ecosystem needs or water contracts determine operations? (State law calls for "co-equal" uses.) -- If the process is based on science rather than politics, then who asks the scientific questions? -- What assurances are in place that fishermen will get some amount of water for fish, and that cities will get good quality drinking water?...In short, there is much we don't know. We do know it looks like water contractors will get their canal.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/06/03/EDAT1MO1ES.DTL
Farmers, lawmakers braced for cuts in subsidies [Associated Press]
A program that puts billions of dollars in the pockets of farmers whether or not they plant a crop may disappear with hardly a protest from farm groups and the politicians who look out for their interests. The Senate is expected to begin debate this week on a five-year farm and food aid bill that would save $9.3 billion by ending direct payments to farmers and replacing them with subsidized insurance programs for when the weather turns bad or prices go south. The details have yet to be worked out. But there’s rare agreement that fixed annual subsidies of $5 billion a year for farmers are no longer feasible when budgets are tight and farmers in general are enjoying record prosperity.
Avocado theft a tough crime to fight, authorities say [North County Times]
There are two kinds of avocado growers in the region: those who have had a theft, and those who will have a theft. So said Eric Larson, executive director of the San Diego County Farm Bureau, during a community forum last month in Fallbrook. The adage was grounded in the common experience of local avocado growers, many of whom have accepted fruit theft as a cost of doing business, an unjust expense over which they have little control and almost no recourse….Authorities said they suspect the majority of crimes go unreported….Farmers may be correct that fruit thieves operate from a position of relative safety, authorities said. "It's definitely high-profit, low-risk right now, I'm afraid," said Heather Clark, a crime prevention specialist with the Sheriff's Department in Fallbrook.
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