White
House warns of food safety cuts [Associated Press]
Impending
across-the-board budget cuts could mean fewer government food safety
inspections and higher prices for meat at the grocery store. A White House memo
released late last week said that one of the consequences of the federal budget
cuts, known as sequestration, would be 2,100 fewer food facility inspections by
the Food and Drug Administration, "putting families at risk and costing
billions in lost food production." The cuts are set to take effect on
March 1. Department of Agriculture inspectors could be furloughed for up to 15
days, meaning meatpacking plants would have to intermittently shut down and
there could be less meat in grocery stores….Meatpacking industry officials
immediately responded to the USDA furlough threat, saying it would devastate
their industry. J. Patrick Boyle, president of the American Meat Institute,
said in a letter to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack that the furloughs could
be illegal because the government is required by law to inspect meat.
$30
million treatment plant targets tainted Valley farming drainage [Fresno Bee]
A
$30 million water treatment plant rises slowly over this quiet prairie on the
San Joaquin Valley's west side where nature has both blessed and cursed
farmers.…Irrigating this fertile land leaves farmers with a nasty flush of
drainage -- natural salts and metals from a long-gone inland sea. Water
treatment might be the final step in putting an end to a chronic problem that
has threatened the area for decades….Now, it's time to finish the job, says
Dennis Falaschi, general manager of the Panoche Drainage District, one of the
local agencies involved in the work. "We're going to take it to
zero," he said. "We've already made huge strides. The flow to the
river will stop."… Bureau engineers said water treatment will begin with
reverse osmosis -- forcing the flow of bad water through a membrane that traps
selenium, salts and other contaminants. The treatment cleans up half the water,
which can be re-used in irrigation. The other half of the drainage becomes even
more concentrated with selenium. It goes into massive tanks where bacteria will
scavenge contaminants, resulting in roughly the same quality as the water
cleaned up by reverse osmosis.
Modesto
Irrigation District to discuss 10% water rate hike on ag customers [Modesto
Bee]
Farmers
should pay 10 percent more for Modesto Irrigation District canal water this
year, staff will propose this morning. The MID board will be asked to schedule
an April 9 public hearing that would complete a protest period. A majority
protest would kill the rate increase, but even sharp increases typically draw
minimal protests….Also this morning, the board will hear its first update from
an advisory committee exploring how to improve the district's canal system, and
how to pay for it. Ideas include stiffening penalties for violating irrigation
rules, a paper says. The committee, composed of volunteers with engineering,
farming and business expertise, was formed after the board in the fall dropped
the hotly contested idea of selling water to San Francisco and using proceeds
for improvements….Leaders have blamed lapses on sympathy during hard times,
resulting in no rate hikes in 2002 and 2011 and less than 10 percent in other
years. Others say farmers should get credit for replenishing groundwater needed
for wells. Also, Modesto City Hall pays nothing when its storm water drains
into the MID's canals. If the April increase is approved, farmers' rates will
have more than doubled in 10 years; they paid $15.30 per acre-foot in 2003.
Farm
income is projected to be highest in 40 years [Wall Street Journal]
Federal
forecasters expect U.S. farm income to climb this year to its highest level in
40 years as crop production rebounds from a deep drought and prices farmers
fetch for livestock and poultry rise. The Department of Agriculture projected
in a report Monday that net farm income in the U.S. will reach $128.2 billion
in 2013—the highest since 1973 when adjusted for inflation and the highest on
record on a non-adjusted basis. The rosier outlook is driven by expectations
farmers will grow more corn and soybeans after last year's drought. Analysts
predict increases in production will more than offset any price declines and
rising costs, with the agency seeing corn stockpiles rising by more than 2
billion bushels….Livestock producers have been particularly hard hit by the
drought as feed costs have risen sharply and pastures used for grazing dried
up. Those producers over the coming year should benefit from higher prices as
supplies tighten. The USDA expects a 3.5% jump in the value of livestock, dairy
and poultry production from a year ago.
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Somis
farm, packing plant to close; more than 600 to be affected [Ventura County
Star]
Gargiulo
Inc. officials have announced the company will close its farm and packing
operations in Somis by April 1. In a letter to the county Board of Supervisors
dated Jan. 31, Gargiulo operations manager Terry Doyle said 677 nonunion
employees would be affected. Jennie Pittman, senior manager for the county
Human Services Agency, said that according to Gargiulo officials, about 25 of
the employees live in Ventura County. The bulk of the workers are based in
Fresno and other counties, she said….Local agriculture industry experts said
that while they are concerned about the closure of the facility, they expect
workers will be able to find local agriculture jobs. For the past year, the
county has experienced a 20 percent to 25 percent drop of available
farmworkers, said county Farm Bureau CEO John Krist. “We anticipate a similar
situation this year and maybe even worse,” Krist said. “It is a complicated and
competitive business, and we are in a situation right now where we have more
jobs than employees in terms of the industry as a whole.”…While work might be
available for Gargiulo employees at other local farms, Krist said the closure
of the Somis plant also means the loss of higher-paying packing positions.
“It’s unfortunate every time you have a major ag operator leave the county,”
Krist said. “They do contribute to the local economy in other ways than just
the wages they pay. It still sends a ripple effect.”
Almond
blossoms ready to unfurl [Chico Enterprise-Record]
A
spectacular spring almond bloom is predicted. A longer-than-normal winter and a
forecast for warmer weather will soon bring the trees out of their
slumber….Stacy Gore, a Durham almond grower and Butte County Farm Bureau
president, said some of the "indicator trees" are open for business.
Older trees, especially those that aren't part of a farm, may be blooming now.
"I could probably find a bloom right now if I looked," he said.
Cooperative Extension Farm Adviser Joe Connell said he'd expect to see bloom
begin in a little more than a week, and the flowers will likely come in rapid
succession. The cold weather over the past month, with some nights in freezing
temperatures, has been "holding things back," Connell said. "A
lot of times by now we would be at 10 percent (of trees in) bloom."…Almond
trees need a few hundred hours of "chill time," which mean
temperatures below 45 degrees. This winter provided plenty, Connell said.
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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