Milk
price fight boils over [Wall Street Journal]
Dairy
farmers around the country have been pushed to the brink lately by drought and
skyrocketing feed costs. But in California they are also battling another
force: cheese makers. The state's dairy industry, one of the country's biggest,
has been squeezed for years by soaring feed prices and slowing economic growth.
Elsewhere, those conditions have caused milk production to shrink, pushing up
prices. But in California, farmers say gains from higher prices have been muted
by the state's formula governing the price that cheese makers pay for their
milk—a quirk in state rules that some farmers say has forced them out of
business….Some 100 California dairy farmers are shutting their doors this year,
according to the Milk Producers Council, a group representing dairy farmers.
Many of the state's roughly 1,600 dairy farms are wrestling with financial
difficulties. And many farmers point their finger at California's "Class
4b" milk regulation, which governs the prices cheese makers pay.…Cheese
makers say raising the minimum price would push cheese production out of
California, which they say is already a difficult place to do business because
of excessive regulation. They also argue that many California milk
farmers—especially those who produce higher-protein milk—receive premiums above
the minimum. In other states, cheese makers can opt out of the system and pay
less than the federal minimum price, so the contrast isn't as stark as it
appears, they say.
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With
California Prop defeated, GMO labeling proponents look to Farm Bill [Forbes]
…Despite
the defeat of the bill, GMO labeling advocates are calling the California
campaign a victory given that it was outspent 5 to 1 and still managed to get
over 4 million votes. Now the groups behind Prop 37–a coalition of nonprofits,
farmers, and organic and natural foods companies–are keeping an eye on the Farm
Bill. “Federal GE foods labeling must now be the focus,” said David Bancroft,
campaign director of Just Label It, a coalition of 600 businesses and
organizations that spearheaded the FDA petition drive for GE foods labeling, in
a release about Prop 37′s defeat. The group is not just concerned with passing
a Federal labeling mandate, but with language related to the USDA’s authority
that was inserted into the House versions of the Farm Bill, which, if passed,
would strip federal agencies of their authority to regulate GE crops.
Auburn
Ravine fish ladder a boon to salmon [Sacramento Bee]
A
new fish ladder on Auburn Ravine in Placer County is proving its value for
salmon returning from the ocean to spawn. Biologists with the California
Department of Fish and Game say 150 fall-run chinook salmon have surmounted the
ladder near Lincoln in the past three weeks. Officials have also counted 13
spawning sites, or redds, in the gravel creekbed upstream of the ladder….The
creek in recent years has been blocked by numerous small agricultural dams
which, by law, must be removed in the fall for fish passage. This obligation
has not always been met. Rabe's group has helped educate landowners about
clearing these barriers each year.
Early
frost advisory surprises Ventura County growers [Ventura County Star]
A
brief frost advisory issued for Monday in Ventura County surprised local
growers, but no major damage was reported.…Lake Casitas reached 34 degrees, and
other inland valleys were in the 40s and 50s before the frost advisory ended at
9 a.m. Monday, Kittell said.…John Krist, CEO of the Farm Bureau of Ventura
County, said temperatures were lower late last week than Monday and that he had
not heard of major local crop damage. "It is kind of unusually early to
have weather this cold, but it wasn't so cold that growers weren't able to
cope," he said. "It was a little bit of a surprise having to shift
into frost protection mode this early, even before Thanksgiving."
Walnut
orchard in Sutter County vandalized [Marysville Appeal-Democrat]
A
young walnut orchard off Eager Road lost about 40 trees to vandalism when a
truck drove through the 40-acre property outside Yuba City and did several
thousands dollars of damage, the grower says….Larry Munger, a ranch owner in
the community of Sutter, and a county supervisor since 1995, said youths who
run vehicles through farmland call the practice "mudding."…Megan
Foster, executive director of the Yuba-Sutter Farm Bureau, said such crimes hit
agriculture hard. "Hopefully that's not a trend," Foster said.
"That's a significant investment for a grower. "I have to think that
the people who are committing that kind of vandalism," she added,
"just see a tree and don't see owne ship."
Meatless
Monday? Can we vote for a No-Cute-Campaigns year? [Los Angeles Times]
My
colleague Carla Hall and I see eye-to-eye on many things, but on some issues,
we see something more like drumstick-to-lentils. That is to say, we couldn't
have disagreed more on the Los Angeles City Council's call to residents to go
meatless on Mondays as a way to lose weight, eat more healthfully and help the
environment.…Yes, this is just a suggestion. But you have to wonder where the
council members get the idea that their particular view of diet, nutrition and
the environment is the one to put forth as official if voluntary policy….It's
the amount of meat people eat, not how many or which days they eat it, that
plays a role in their health and weight. It's the quality of meat they're
willing to spring for that determines how humanely livestock are kept. And it
is not the City Council's job to promote vegetarianism, if that is one of the
goals. There are many philosophies and traditions of healthful eating,
including vegetarianism; it's not government's job to promote one over the
other.
Ag
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