Salinas
Valley hit by farmworker shortage [Gannett News Service]
Farmers
from California to New York struggled to find enough people to harvest their
crops this season, a shortage they blame on federal bureaucratic requirements
and a sharp decline in migrant laborers willing to cross the U.S.-Mexican
border….A California Farm Bureau Federation survey released this month showed
widespread shortages throughout the state, especially among growers of
labor-intensive crops like tree fruits, vegetables and berries.…Norman Groot,
executive director of the Monterey County Farm Bureau, said about 60 percent of
local growers were hit hard by the labor shortage, which was particularly acute
this year compared to years past….The American Farm Bureau and other farm groups
are working on a plan to present to the new Congress that would allow more
migrant laborers to work legally on U.S. farms.
Obama
plans push for immigration reform [Los Angeles Times]
As
soon as the confrontation over fiscal policy winds down, the Obama
administration will begin an all-out drive for comprehensive immigration
reform, including seeking a path to citizenship for 11 million illegal
immigrants, according to officials briefed on the plans. While key tactical
decisions are still being made, President Obama wants a catch-all bill that
would also bolster border security measures, ratchet up penalties for employers
who hire illegal immigrants, and make it easier to bring in foreign workers
under special visas, among other elements….But Republicans, including some who
are in favor of immigration change, are pushing a go-slow approach. Rather than
working on one comprehensive bill, Congress should pass a series of bills that
help foreign entrepreneurs, technology workers, agricultural workers and those
who were brought to the U.S. unlawfully as children, said Sen. Marco Rubio
(R-Fla.), who is the highest-profile Republican Latino politician and is
expected to be an important GOP voice on immigration.
Sinking
farmland snags San Joaquin River project [Fresno Bee]
The
San Joaquin River restoration has hit a strange snag -- a vast area of swiftly
sinking farmland. It means the much-heralded return of salmon runs to the
state's second-longest river will wait a little longer. Over the past two years,
irrigation pumping near the river has caused a two-foot dip in the landscape
across many square miles on the Valley's west side, federal engineers say. Now,
just months from the start of major construction in the restoration, the
engineers must rethink the $25 million replacement of Sack Dam, which will have
special features for salmon passage.
River
wrangles unresolved [Salinas Californian]
With
the wettest months of winter looming, the Salinas River is poised to flood and
once again destroy crops planted adjacent to its banks. It’s an ongoing problem
that has stirred heated debate and finger-pointing, and there doesn’t seem to
be any immediate solution….Early next month the Water Resources Agency plans to
release an environmental study on the effects of the channel maintenance
program. The report is highly anticipated by both farmers and
environmentalists, and is likely to instantly trigger even more rancor —
regardless of its findings….But key to the debate today is the Water Resources
Agency’s insistence that the program be conducted “in a manner that is
compatible with environmental concerns and resources, including the needs of
threatened, endangered, and sensitive species.”…The key question, however,
revolves around the level of environmental harm the public and state agencies
are willing to accept to protect farmers from a flooding river.
Water
piped to Denver could ease stress on river [New York Times]
The
federal government has come up with dozens of ways to enhance the diminishing
flow of the Colorado River, which has long struggled to keep seven states and
roughly 25 million people hydrated. Among the proposals in a report by the
Bureau of Reclamation, parts of which leaked out in advance of its expected
release this week, are traditional solutions to water shortages, like
decreasing demand through conservation and increasing supply through reuse or
desalination projects. But also in the mix, and expected to remain in the final
draft of the report, is a more extreme and contentious approach. It calls for
building a pipeline from the Missouri River to Denver, nearly 600 miles to the
west. Water would be doled out as needed along the route in Kansas, with the
rest ultimately stored in reservoirs in the Denver area.
Commentary: Water bond needs
slimming down [Los Angeles Times]
…The
big water decision facing the governor and lawmakers next year will be what to
do with a proposed $11.1-billion bond that the Legislature passed in 2009. The
measure reeked so badly of rancid pork that the politicians twice wisely pulled
it off the state ballot. But there's a consensus that they can't just keep
shelving the measure. They either have to fix it or dump the thing and start
anew. Put something on the 2014 ballot. There are some very good ingredients in
the proposed bond, including $2.3 billion to upgrade the delta and restore its
ecology, $3 billion potentially for a dam or two and $1 billion for water
recycling and well-water cleanup. But there's at least $2 billion worth of
fatback, including $455 million for "drought relief." That drought
ended long ago. There's also $100 million — at U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein's
insistence — for the Lake Tahoe watershed, which feeds Nevada. There are
goodies such as bike trails, open space purchases and "watershed education
centers."
Ag
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