LA
Mayor Villaraigosa pushes immigration changes [Modesto Bee]
Los
Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, fresh off an aggressive effort to get
President Barack Obama re-elected, strode into Washington this week to champion
an immigration overhaul. The issue is vitally important to California, with the
nation’s largest number of illegal immigrants and whose agriculture industry
relies heavily on the state’s immigrant population. Villaraigosa hopes to use
his experience in the Golden State and personal background as a farm-labor
activist to influence the Obama administration’s work on overhauling the
nation’s immigration laws….The grandson of Mexican immigrants, Villaraigosa
described providing a path to citizenship for 11 million illegal immigrants as
a moral and economic imperative. He blasted Republican proposals that include a
large guest-worker program that stops short of citizenship and, he says, is a
pathway to “second-class citizenship.”…In his remarks Monday, Villaraigosa
acknowledged Congress’ heavy workload – lawmakers expect to debate gun safety
and the debt crisis in the coming months – but said politicians couldn’t afford
to “punt” the immigration issue to another political cycle. “Washington should
be able to walk and chew gum at the same time,” he said.
Tom
Vilsack to stay Agriculture Secretary [Wall Street Journal]
Tom
Vilsack will keep his job as head of the U.S. Department of Agriculture for a
second term under President Barack Obama, White House and USDA officials said
Monday. Mr. Vilsack, a former Iowa governor, led the USDA during the worst
drought to hit American farmers since the 1950s. He has been criticized for his
staunch support for corn-based ethanol. Corn prices rose to record levels last
year as drought conditions scorched fields across the country.
USDA
offering loans to farmers who grow for locals [Associated Press]
The
U.S. Department of Agriculture has created a new loan program to help small
farmers, including growers who want to take advantage of the soaring interest
in locally produced food. Agriculture Department Secretary Tom Vilsack told The
Associated Press on Monday that new "microloans" of up to $35,000 are
designed to help bolster family-run farms as well as minority growers and
military veterans seeking to start a farm who might otherwise have trouble
qualifying for small loans from banks or other USDA loan programs. The loans can
help farmers grow niche or organic crops to sell directly to ethnic and farmers
markets, or contribute to community-supported agriculture programs. Vilsack
noted direct-to-consumer sales was a fast-growing sector, with a 60 percent
increase in farmers markets in the past three years. The loan also can cover
the costs of renting land, seed, equipment and other expenses. The goal is to
create more opportunities for entrepreneurship and employment in the farming
industry, Vilsack said.
Cold
still threatens Calif. crops but it's easing [Associated Press]
A
cold snap that has California farmers struggling to protect a $1.5 billion
citrus crop has slowly started to ease, though frigid temperatures were still
the norm Tuesday morning throughout the state and across other parts of the
West. For a fifth night, temperatures in San Joaquin Valley, California's
agricultural heart, dipped as low as 21 degrees.…Growers needed wind machines
and irrigation to offset the cold, mainly with success. However, damage was
predicted to the mandarin crop, a growing segment of the industry. "We
still think the navel oranges have come through in good shape," Blakely
said. Protection didn't come cheap. Lindsey-based Robert LoBue - who grows
1,000 acres of citrus, including mandarins - said he runs one wind machine for
every 10 acres and has to employ a crew to operate them. "We're very
diligent, we run the wind and water all night," LoBue said, "but
we're spending thousands of dollars to protect these crops."
Cold
weather driving up market prices for local produce [Imperial Valley Press]
This
weekend’s uncommonly cold temperatures — especially for a corner of California
where people take refuge from the cold — are heating up produce prices….“We
benefit quite a bit,” said Ralph Strahm, a Holtville farmer who is harvesting
iceberg lettuce, cabbage and cauliflower on about 300 acres. “(This weather)
reduces the supply and drives up prices.” Indeed, a box of lettuce which
fetched $7 three weeks ago — when temperatures were above the seasonal average
— now sells for $27, said Larry Cox, a Brawley farmer. That same box of lettuce
would sell for $10 to $11 under normal weather conditions, he added.…Although
above-average market prices may seem like a blessing, additional work is needed
to bring produce to market. “It causes a slowing-down of the growing of the
crop significantly, and it makes it more challenging to harvest,” said J.P.
LaBrucherie, vice president of LaBrucherie Produce in El Centro. Crops like
broccoli, cauliflower and lettuce cannot be harvested while there is ice on
them, LaBrucherie explained.
Commentary: What's 'green'? The
Williamson Act [Redding Record Searchlight]
It
seemed just a bit odd when Jerry Brown, elected to his second go-'round as
governor on a strong environmental program, almost immediately abandoned this
state's least expensive and most productive clean-air and environmental
preservation law. Well, OK, he didn't completely ax the Williamson Act, a 1965
law that assures 15 million acres of open California land will not be built
over for at least 20 years. Nope, he left $1,000 in the program, just like
predecessor Arnold Schwarzenegger did the previous year….There will be no
immediate crisis because it takes years to work off a Williamson Act pact. But
a new study from UC Davis suggests some damage is in the offing because a few
counties are already opting out of continuing the tax exemptions on their own
and farmers and ranchers have been thinking about contingencies….The good news
is that the damage isn't yet done and the farmers and ranchers now thinking
about selling are years away from being able to do it, under their existing
Williamson Act contracts. So Brown, as Schwarzenegger once did, has plenty of
time to restore his brownest cut ever. Whether he does it will provide a good
test of how much the environment and climate change really mean to him.
Ag
Today is distributed to county Farm Bureaus, CFBF directors and CFBF staff, for
information purposes, by the CFBF Communications/News Division, 916-561-5550; news@cfbf.com.
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