Working
in secret, House has its own bipartisan immigration plan [Sacramento Bee]
A
bipartisan group of members of the House of Representatives is close to
introducing its own immigration bill, which would grant legal status to many of
the nation’s estimated 11 million illegal immigrants but _ in a significant
departure from similar proposals in the White House and Senate _ isn’t expected
to include new paths to citizenship, according to those involved in the
discussions….Under the anticipated House proposal, no one would be barred
permanently from citizenship, but they’d be eligible only via pathways that
already are available to any other immigrants, including marriage, family or
employment-based sponsorships….Their proposed legislation, like the White House
and Senate proposals, would beef up border security, establish a nationwide
system to verify the legal status of workers, punish businesses that hire
illegal immigrants and allow more agricultural and highly skilled immigrant
workers to stay in the country….Working in secret has been a necessity,
considering the high stakes. The Republican-led House is seen as the greatest
obstacle to a comprehensive overhaul. Many conservative House members continue to
liken a path to citizenship to “amnesty,” and they find it an affront to the
principles of the rule of law.
Long
border, endless struggle [New York Times]
…A
bipartisan group of senators has agreed in principle to lay out a path to
American citizenship for an estimated 11 million immigrants in the United
States illegally, but only after quantifiable progress is made on border
security, raising thorny questions: What does a secure border mean exactly? How
should it be measured? And what expectations are reasonable given the cost, the
inherent challenges of the terrain and the flood of traffic crossing legally
each year in the name of tourism and trade? Some Republicans argue that the
southern border remains dangerously porous and inadequately defended by the
federal government. Obama administration officials, insisting there is no
reason for delaying plans to move millions of people toward citizenship,
counter that the border is already safer and more secure than ever….But all
camps leave a lot out of the discussion. Visits to more than a half-dozen
border locations over the past two years show that the levels of control vary
significantly along the line in ways that Congress and the White House have yet
to fully acknowledge. Many areas that used to be popular crossing points have
experienced undeniable improvements. Migrant shelters across from El Paso are
now often empty. A generation after San Diego was overrun with thousands of
immigrants openly rushing into the city every day, experts, Border Patrol
agents and deportees in Tijuana, Mexico, all say that the chances of reaching
Southern California are remote, with odds of success at 1 in 10, or worse.
Farm
bill would save less than previously thought [Associated Press]
Farm
bills passed by the Senate and a House committee last year would save far less
money than previously thought, according to a new estimate released Friday. A
report from the Congressional Budget Office says a Senate-passed farm bill
would save $1.3 billion annually, as opposed to the $2.3 billion per year in savings
estimated last year. A bill passed by the House Agriculture Committee would
save $2.7 billion a year instead of $3.5 billion. While the amounts may seem
small in comparison to the bills' $100 billion-a-year cost, the estimates are
another roadblock for the embattled legislation and the farm-state lawmakers
who have fruitlessly tried to convince House leadership to move forward on it.
Drought
brings federal loans to Tulare County farmers, ag businesses [Visalia
Times-Delta]
Just
a day after it was announced that the first two months in 2013 were the driest
on record for California, some good news arrived: Farmers, dairies and ranchers
in Tulare County are eligible for federal loans to help cover their
drought-related losses. Businesses tied to the agriculture industry also are eligible
for similar emergency loans. Tulare County is among 10 counties in the state
designated as “primary natural disaster areas” on Wednesday by the U.S
Department of Agriculture because of low rainfall and snowfall during January.
The others are Fresno, Inyo, Kern, Lassen, Los Angeles, Modoc, Mono, Riverside
and San Bernardino counties.
Students
from elite cooking schools get lessons in Valley's farm fields [Fresno Bee]
Culinary
students from some of the nation's top cooking schools traded their chef coats
for sweatshirts to learn how food in the central San Joaquin Valley is grown.
Ten students from The Culinary Institute of America's Hyde Park campus in New
York walked through broccoli fields during harvest in February, watched an
almond orchard being planted and visited the sprawling Harris Ranch feedlot in
west Fresno County.…Culinary schools are increasingly getting their students
out of the kitchens and onto farms to learn more about the farm-to-table
movement -- a trend that's being embraced by restaurants and consumers. The
phrase farm-to-table can mean different things, but its most basic definition
is the sourcing of meat, dairy or produce directly from a specific farm. As
part of that, some restaurants are using the names of growers or branded
products, such as Harris Ranch beef, on their menus to show their support of
local, high-quality producers.
A
university steak to go with that sweatshirt? [New York Times]
…Clothing
and accessories that declare allegiance to one’s university are, of course,
nothing new. And specialty or seasonal products from institutions with
agriculture studies departments have also been around for years….But in recent
years, food researchers said, a number of trends have coalesced, changing the
stakes, and the possibilities, for what a college food brand might be. The
movement for locally sourced food has fueled a growth in student-led
agriculture with new or expanded farm-to-table product lines in places like the
urban gardens at George Washington University and the Sustainable Student Farm
at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Student-run farms supplying
dining halls and farmers’ markets have started or expanded at many
institutions, including the University of California at Davis and California
State University, Chico. At the same time, the commercial branding of
commodities has become an industry norm, from Washington State apples to
California avocados. The erosion of public financing for higher education,
meanwhile, is forcing universities to think harder than ever about how best to
keep themselves anchored in the minds of the public and their alumni.
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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