Sierra
snowpack falls short [Fresno Bee]
Snow-surveying
crews across the Sierra are seeing bad news up close this week. California has
about half a snowpack. Skiing, snowshoeing or riding helicopters, the crews are
making their way to high-elevation meadows for the most important snow
measurement of the year. April 1 is the unofficial end of the snowfall season
-- this year, following a miserably dry January, February and March. City
officials, industry leaders and farmers will get a good idea of how much water
to expect when the snow melts.
Stanislaus
County irrigation leaders fear for supply of groundwater [Modesto Bee]
Local
irrigation leaders are increasingly worried about a sudden uptick in foothill
demand for well water, saying thousands of acres of newly planted almonds could
devastate the region's groundwater supply. Modesto Irrigation District board
member Larry Byrd publicly suggested a radical solution Tuesday — selling river
water to out-of-district growers in wet years, when the district has extra, and
using proceeds for canal improvements.…Most states have laws regulating
groundwater, but not California.…While the state isn't involved, most of its 58
counties have groundwater rules of some sort. Stanislaus County — whose Board
of Supervisors is dominated by farmers — opened a can of worms four years ago
by looking at something similar here.
Replacing
fumigants still difficult [Salinas Californian]
Strawberries
are a favorite brunch for the globetrotting nematode and fungi set, and the
science behind curbing their appetites without the use of banned fumigants is
proving a laborious task — far more difficult than the rhetoric that has
defined the political debate in recent years. In the crosshairs is the fumigant
methyl bromide, a highly effective compound that sterilizes the soil prior to
planting strawberry plants….The political firestorm over methyl bromide that
has erupted into rallies and lawsuits has made the Salinas-Watsonville region
ground zero for the debate….That economic factor in the word “viable” is what
is continuing to feed the flames of the debate. Because something might work to
suppress nematodes — tiny parasitic worms that attack root systems — and fungi,
doesn’t mean it can have commercial applications when costs are factored in.
But there are several promising methods being tried in the Strawberry
Commission’s Watsonville test plots and in research fields at the University of
California, Santa Cruz.
Sutter
County supervisors reject solar permit [Marysville Appeal-Democrat]
The
Sutter County Board of Supervisors shut down plans for a 250-acre solar farm on
prime agricultural land northwest of Yuba City on Tuesday by denying a use
permit to a Los Angeles-based energy company. Supervisors chose to sink the
project after listening to more than two dozen speakers at the three-hour board
meeting, where property rights and the protection of valuable ag land were
heavily discussed….Several people spoke in favor of the project, which would
have provided about 100 jobs to the area during its one year of
construction….However, the majority of speakers at Tuesday's meeting opposed
the project, claiming it would ruin neighbors' view of the Sutter Buttes and
destroy rich ag land.
Federal
plan aims to help wildlife adapt to climate change [Los Angeles Times]
The
Obama administration Tuesday announced a nationwide plan to help wildlife adapt
to threats from climate change. Developed along with state and tribal
authorities, the strategy seeks to preserve species as global warming alters
their historical habitats and, in many cases, forces them to migrate across
state and tribal borders. Over the next five years, the plan establishes
priorities for what will probably be a decades-long effort. One key proposal is
to create wildlife "corridors" that would let animals and plants move
to new habitats. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Daniel M. Ashe said
such routes could be made through easements and could total "much more
than 1 million acres." The plan does not provide an estimate of the cost.
Price
worries on S.J. asparagus [Stockton Record]
San
Joaquin County farmers report the asparagus beds in and around the Delta are
producing a high-quality crop of early season asparagus. But with shipments for
this weekend's Easter holiday already in the pipeline and continuing
competition from Mexican imports, those same farmers also face a drop in prices
that could take out any profits from their harvest, at least in the short term.
Ed Zuckerman, chief executive of Zuckerman Family Farms, said early season
prices had been fairly strong, running about $45 per 28-pound carton.
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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