California
ag industry discusses immigration reforms [Visalia Times-Delta]
Farmers
and ranchers worry that their needs for migrant labor will get lost amid the
discussions and debates about immigration reform in Washington, D.C. It
happened before, said a group of speakers who came Wednesday to Fresno State
University to discuss what California’s agriculture industry needs in the next
immigration reform bill….“We have to do something,” Bryan Little, director of
labor affairs for the California Farm Bureau Federation, told the crowd at
Fresno State….Little said the, Agriculture Workforce Coalition wants the new
immigration bill to include a different program that would be run by the U.S.
Department of Agriculture. The program would streamline the process for
approving worker visas and eliminate some of the requirements in H-2A.…The
group’s proposals also would not require that farming operations sponsor the
migrant workers, so they would be free to quit and go to work for other farmers
and ranchers authorized to hire them by the Department of Agriculture, Little
said.
Column:
Lack of immigration reform threatens California farmers [Los Angeles Times]
Except
for illegal immigrants, no group has more at stake in the national fight over
immigration reform than California farmers….As security has tightened along the
California-Mexican border, the flow of illegal immigrant labor into the
nation's most productive agriculture state has slowed significantly, farm
interests say. "It's very difficult to find crews compared to three or
four years ago," reports Greg Wegis, a fifth-generation Kern County farmer
who grows cherries, almonds, pistachios and tomatoes, among other
crops….Roughly two-thirds of the state's crop workers "are not properly
documented," says Rayne Pegg, who heads the federal policy division of the
California Farm Bureau.…One federal program designed to allow temporary entry
of foreign agriculture workers — called H-2A — fails in California because
"it's fraught with bureaucratic nightmares," Pegg says. "The
federal government doesn't act timely enough for picking and harvesting."
California
water board urges lawmakers to act on nitrate contamination in drinking water
[Monterey County Herald]
A
new report from the state water board calls for the Legislature to enact new
fees to pay for measures designed to clean up nitrate-contaminated groundwater,
especially in major agricultural areas such as the Salinas Valley. The report,
issued Wednesday, includes 15 recommendations to address a range of water
issues….But the report said its most critical recommendation is to create a
reliable, stable funding source to "ensure all Californians, including
those in (disadvantaged communities), have access to safe drinking water."
New funding sources proposed in the report include a point-of-sale fee on
agricultural commodities, a fee on nitrogen fertilizing materials or a water
use fee….However, Monterey County Farm Bureau Executive Director Norm Groot
said additional taxes or fees, and expensive regulations, would place an unwise
burden on an ag industry already struggling in recent years.
Santa
Paula council urges residents to spray trees to stop citrus pest [Ventura
County Star]
The
Santa Paula City Council at its meeting Tuesday night urged residents to allow
their citrus trees to be doused with pesticides to try to prevent the spread of
an insect that could destroy the city’s citrus industry. The Asian citrus
psyllid has been found in five locations in the city and in 70 in the county
since September, and in every city except Ojai, Ventura County Agricultural
Commissioner Henry Gonzales told the council. “We believe that we are now the
leading edge of the infestation (in California),” he said. “We need homeowners
to help us.”
U.S.
deserves top mad-cow rating, health officials say [Reuters]
The
United States is expected to get the top safety rating for mad cow disease in
spring, under a recommendation from international livestock health experts that
was greeted on Wednesday as a sure-fire boost to U.S. beef exports. U.S.
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said the recommended upgrade, to
"negligible" from "controlled" risk, was proof that U.S.
beef meets the highest safety standards in the world. A trade group, the U.S.
Cattlemen's Association, said the move was "a big step forward towards
enhancing our export opportunities." The World Organization for Animal
Health (OIE) was expected to formally adopt the recommendation at its annual
meeting in May in Paris. OIE's scientific arm recommended the upgrade after
reviewing U.S. safeguards.
Interest
in agriculture heats up in Yuba-Sutter [Marysville Appeal-Democrat]
Listing
farmers as an endangered species — a status a bumper sticker warned looms in
California — may be premature, even without the boost of that Super Bowl ad
with the voice of the late radio broadcaster Paul Harvey. Spring Fling, the
March 15 fundraiser of the Yuba-Sutter Farm Bureau, sold out early this month,
applications to the ag program at California State University, Chico, have
nearly doubled over the past five years and the 10 ag classes at Marysville
High School are full. Megan Foster, executive director of the Yuba City-based
Farm Bureau, spoke about agriculture's new status.
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.
Some story links may require site registration. To be removed
from this mailing list, reply to this message and please provide your
name and e-mail address.
No comments:
Post a Comment