Immigration
reforms important to Tulare County farmers, farmworkers [Visalia Times-Delta]
In
a peach grove north of Traver, a group of men work to remove some of the
undeveloped fruit from the trees so other fruit on the branches will grow
bigger by the time the trees are ready to be harvested. Most of the men are
from Mexico, several of whom came into the U.S. illegally to find farm jobs
here….The groups of workers in the peach field said they didn’t know anything
about the Senate bill, and none of the men were willing to speak to a reporter
about what they want or need in revised immigration laws. That’s no surprise,
said Arnold Flores, who grew up as a migrant farm laborer who worked alongside
his parents and siblings and now co-owns a business that supplies workers for
farms in Tulare County and other parts of the Valley. But from his own
discussions with migrant farmworkers, Flores said they want immigration reform
as much as farmers and ranchers so they can come to and from Mexico or Central
America without being arrested by U.S. border agents or having to pay dangerous
drug traffickers as much as $5,000 to get across the border.
A
day in the strawberry fields seems like forever [Los Angeles Times]
About
30 minutes into my job as a picker, the strawberry fairy left her first gift.
On one of the beds of berries that seemed to stretch forever into the Santa
Maria marine layer, Elvia Lopez had laid a little bundle of picked fruit. She
and the other three dozen Mexican immigrants in the field were bent at an
almost 90-degree angle, using two hands to pack strawberries into plastic
containers that they pushed along on ungainly one-wheeled carts. They moved
forward, relentlessly, ever bent, following a hulking machine with a conveyor
belt that spirited away their fruit. But Lopez, a 31-year-old immigrant from
Baja California, knew I was falling behind. And she responded with an act of
kindness….But even if I was dressed like the other workers, the clothes felt
like a disguise. As soon as I opened my mouth, my fluent but American-sounding
Spanish, not to mention my baby-soft hands, gave me away.
Sen.
Boxer pushes national GMO label law [San Francisco Chronicle]
There
are 26 states trying to pass legislation that would require genetically
engineered foods to be labeled. Sen. Barbara Boxer thinks it makes more sense
to have a single law for the entire nation….About 70 to 80 percent of the
processed foods sold in the United States are made with genetically engineered
ingredients, including corn, soybeans, sugar beets and cotton oil. Under
Boxer's bill, products such as non-genetically engineered meat, poultry and
dairy would not be labeled even if the animals were fed genetically engineered
grain or hay. But unlike Prop 37, alcohol produced using genetically engineered
grain or grapes would be labeled. Opponents of the proposal - including many
scientists, biologists and farmers - argue that labeling stigmatizes
genetically engineered foods, which they say science considers safe.
Furthermore, opponents say that genetically engineered seeds enable farmers to
grow more crops on less land while using less chemical pesticides.
Feds:
Many causes for dramatic bee disappearance [Associated Press]
A
new federal report blames a combination of problems for a mysterious and
dramatic disappearance of U.S. honeybees since 2006. The intertwined factors
cited include a parasitic mite, multiple viruses, bacteria, poor nutrition,
genetics, habitat loss and pesticides. The multiple causes make it harder to do
something about what's called colony collapse disorder, experts say. The
disorder has caused as much as one-third of the nation's bees to just disappear
each winter since 2006.
California
almond crop up 6 percent [Modesto Bee]
The
federal government Thursday projected a near-record almond crop in California
this year — a boon to an industry that has had little trouble finding buyers
around the world. The estimate of 2,000,700,000 pounds was announced at the
Modesto headquarters of the Almond Board of California. "I think we need
that much or more to satisfy our constantly growing market," said Ron
Fisher, owner of Fisher Nut Co. of Modesto. "It's been remarkable."
Bad
news: Calif. snowpack 17 percent of normal [Associated Press]
The
man in charge of surveying California's snowpack to measure the amount of water
that will flow into storage reservoirs over the next few months had bad news
Thursday. "I'm finding nothing. Seriously, there is no snow on the course
at all," said Frank Gehrke, chief surveyor for the Department of Water
Resources. The survey showed the water content in the snowpack at 17 percent of
normal, an ominous situation for a state that depends on a steady stream of
snowmelt to replenish reservoirs throughout the summer.
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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