High-speed rail agency tries to ease farmers' fears [Fresno Bee]
Will high-speed trains blow away honeybees? Will the state's proposed rail system throw a monkey wrench into ag irrigation systems up and down the Valley? Will the roaring trains stress out cows so much they'll produce less milk? Those were some of the questions the California High-Speed Rail Authority took a shot at answering at Tuesday's board meeting. West side farmer John Diener, chairman of the Agriculture Working Group, an advisory panel for the authority, presented a series of six reports….The Rail Authority says it wants to communicate better with San Joaquin Valley farmers who worry about 220-mph trains racing across their land. Tuesday's presentation aimed at answering those concerns was a start. But not everyone is convinced.
http://www.fresnobee.com/2012/09/11/2987804/high-speed-rail-agency-seeks-to.html
Jerry Brown approves tax on lumber for consumers [Sacramento Bee]
Gov. Jerry Brown signed legislation Tuesday that charges consumers a 1 percent tax on lumber products starting in January and restricts damages landowners pay for sparking wildfires. The timber industry backed Assembly Bill 1492 for several reasons: Consumers will pay for regulatory costs that landowners previously paid; the liability provisions could restrict payouts in future federal lawsuits; harvest plans remain effective for longer periods, resulting in less frequent environmental reviews; and the tax applies to purchases of imported lumber that comprises the majority of wood sold, in addition to in-state products. "California's laws have saddled our timber industry with costly burdens while giving out-of-state competitors a free ride – but that stops today," Brown said in a statement. "This legislation enacts serious bipartisan reform to even the playing field to protect California's timber-industry jobs."
http://www.sacbee.com/2012/09/12/4811036/jerry-brown-approves-tax-on-lumber.html#storylink=misearch
Farm labor shortages plague Pajaro Valley growers [Watsonville Patch]
Farm labor shortages this summer have forced those working in agriculture—a $565 million industry in Santa Cruz County—to clock overtime shifts and seven-day-a-week schedules and, in the most-dire situations, abandon crops and plow-in fields. “The labor has been very tight,” said Tom Am Rhein, of Naturipe, a Watsonville strawberry grower. “There’s been some degree of crop loss as a result.” There are no firm figures detailing the size of the worker shortfall. Some farmers in the Pajaro Valley said their labor crews are 10 to 20 percent off previous years. Most blame it on tighter immigration policies that caused fewer migrant workers to come across the border from Mexico.…The problem is pronounced in California, where farmers are reporting labor shortages as high as 50 percent, according to Rayne Pagg, manager of Federal Policy Division at the California Farm Bureau Federation. The coalition released a survey to its members this month asking for data on their labor issues….Growers are already worried about next summer. "I think we're seeing the tip of the iceberg," said Jess Brown, director of the Santa Cruz County Farm Bureau. "... What does this mean for next year? That's the scary part."
Coalition drops opposition to a Dow engineered crop [New York Times]
A group representing fruit and vegetable growers and canners has dropped its opposition to regulatory approval of genetically engineered crops resistant to the powerful herbicide 2,4-D. The group, known as the Save Our Crops Coalition, said Tuesday that Dow Agrosciences, a subsidiary of Dow Chemical, the crops’ developer, had agreed to take steps to reduce the chances the herbicide would damage fruit and vegetable crops. Dow is awaiting approval of genetically engineered corn that would allow farmers to spray 2,4-D on their fields to kill weeds without harming the crop. Soybeans and cotton that can withstand 2,4-D are also in the works.
Editorial: A farm bill, and food stamps [Los Angeles Times]
Midwestern farmers, facing uncertainty about their crops in the midst of the worst drought in half a century, have something else to steam about: Congress' failure to pass a new farm bill, even though the old one is slated to expire Sept. 30. That may not sound so bad, because farm bills are invariably bloated with market-distorting corporate welfare for agribusiness that we'd be better off without. Yet they also fund the federal food stamp program, one of the most important strands of the U.S. safety net….Insiders expect our paralyzed Congress to pass a one-year extension of the old farm bill rather than a new one, but eventually this country will have to address how much it is willing to pay to prevent hunger and to keep poor children nutritionally stable enough to pay attention in class. Even in the face of an economic downturn that's causing food stamp participation to skyrocket, feeding the hungry should be considered a minimum requirement for a civilized, developed nation.
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-ed-farm-bill-food-stamps-20120912,0,7732078.story
Editorial: Tulare County takes lead in wire theft battle [Fresno Bee]
Finally, some law enforcement officials are aggressively pursuing the copper wire theft epidemic that has shut off irrigation pumps at farms and darkened neighborhood streetlights. The Tulare County Sheriff's Department cited five metal recyclers after a sting operation revealed they were buying stolen wire. For the most part, officers throughout the San Joaquin Valley had been going after the thieves and only spot checking recyclers who purchased the stole wire. That has been a failed strategy, as metal theft skyrocketed under this timid approach….While state laws have been written to limit the purchase of stolen wire, the regulations do no good if they aren't strictly enforced….Tulare County Sheriff Bill Wittman deserves praise for the sting operation his deputies conducted with Kern County officials.
http://www.fresnobee.com/2012/09/12/2987777/editorial-tulare-county-takes.html
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