Asia
rice demand strong for Yuba-Sutter [Marysville Appeal-Democrat]
Agriculture
faces a sweet future as the middle class in China and India expands and imports
more food from the United States, rice growers were told Tuesday in Yuba City.
"We have got a great market opportunity," said Randy Russell, who
represents the California Rice Commission in Washington, DC.…Russell said at
the annual growers meeting held by the Sacramento-based rice commission that
the United States is ideally positioned to feed a growing world market. India
alone is projected to be home to a middle class of 1.2 billion people by 2050,
Russell said. Rising values of California ag land have been linked to growing
demand in China for wa nuts, almonds and pistachios grown in the state.
California farm real estate was valued in 2012 at $7,200 an acre — a record
high for the state and $300 more an acre above the record set in 2011.
Nielsen
wins race for state Senate District 4 seat [Redding Record Searchlight]
Republican
Jim Nielsen defeated Democrat Michael "Mickey" Harrington on Tuesday
in a special election to fill the state Senate seat vacated last fall by Doug
LaMalfa, the north state's newly seated congressman. Nielsen carried a nearly a
2-1 vote lead throughout Senate District 4 as ballots were counted Tuesday
night. With 100 percent of districtwide precincts reporting as of 12:16 a.m.
today, Nielsen had 87,669 votes, or 66.7 percent, compared to Harrington's
43,866 votes, or 33.3 percent, the secretary of state's office reported.
Nielsen's lead was even larger in Shasta County, among others.
Modesto,
Turlock irrigation districts in talks over La Grange dam [Modesto Bee]
Modesto
Irrigation District leaders took formal steps Tuesday to address a potentially
costly and worrisome federal order on a small dam. The MID and the Turlock
Irrigation District, which own La Grange Dam and its little power plant, must
seek a hydroelectric license from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, an
FERC director ruled last month. The MID board Tuesday, behind closed doors,
authorized administrators to work on the issue with the TID and special
attorneys.
Not
even close: 2012 was hottest ever in U.S. [New York Times]
The
numbers are in: 2012, the year of a surreal March heat wave, a severe drought
in the Corn Belt and a huge storm that caused broad devastation in the Middle
Atlantic States, turns out to have been the hottest year ever recorded in the
contiguous United States….Last year’s weather in the United States began with
an unusually warm winter, with relatively little snow across much of the
country, followed by a March that was so hot that trees burst into bloom and
swimming pools opened early. The soil dried out in the March heat, helping to
set the stage for a drought that peaked during the warmest July on record. The
drought engulfed 61 percent of the nation, killed corn and soybean crops and
sent prices spiraling. It was comparable to a severe drought in the 1950s, Mr.
Crouch said, but not quite as severe as the legendary Dust Bowl drought of the
1930s, which was exacerbated by poor farming practices that allowed topsoil to
blow away.
Farmers
crossing fingers that snowpack will hold up [Hanford Sentinel]
…The
current snowpack is only 50 percent of the April 1 average, leaving farmers to
wonder what fickle California weather will bring in the coming months. They have
reason to be concerned. California weather has grown increasingly volatile,
with one or two wet years separated by multiple years of drought.…So if you’re
an agricultural water district manager, trying to figure out how much water is
going to be available — and when — is enough to give you a headache. Take Mark
Gilkey. general manager of Tulare Lake Basin Water Storage District, which
covers much of southern Kings County. He’s careful, he’s cautious and he knows
that everything is up in the air water-wise. Like many agricultural water
managers, Gilkey would like to see more reservoir storage space in California
to capture extra runoff rather than letting it flow out to the Pacific Ocean.
Editorial: Measuring snow a
worthy academic pursuit [Modesto Bee]
…Researchers
at UC Merced are heavily involved in efforts to measure snow and other
precipitation in the mountains on a real time basis, along with information as
to the exact snow line and the soil moisture levels in the forest and mountain
meadows….Some of the research done at UC campuses is on subjects beyond the
grasp of the average Californian, important but bewilderingly complicated. This
research on water incorporates technical terms and techniques, to be sure, but
the bottom line easily translates into what's important in our daily lives.
Accurate and the most up-to-date information will allow irrigation districts
and other water agencies to better manage their reservoirs, to reduce the
likelihood of flooding and to make sure water is used most efficiently for
urban, agriculture and environmental purposes. It's exciting to know that the
San Joaquin Valley campus of the University of California is a major player on
this critical subject.
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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