Valley
farm-labor shortage boosts wages for workers [Fresno Bee]
Fears
of a potential farm labor shortage have caused San Joaquin Valley growers to
boost wages to as much as $10 an hour this year to attract and keep workers for
the harvest season. With the farm-labor pool already tight and crops ready to
be picked, growers are scrambling to secure their supply of workers....Farmers
and agriculture industry leaders say wages have risen $1 to a $1.50 an hour
this year compared to last year, or as much as 12%. Among Valley farmers,
hourly wages are hovering between $9 and $10 an hour, which is higher than
California's minimum wage of $8. Wages could go even higher. In September 2012,
the average hourly earnings for San Joaquin Valley farmworkers rose to $12.09 during
the peak of the harvest season.
http://www.fresnobee.com/2013/05/10/3295068/farm-labor-shortage-boosts-wages.html#storylink=misearch
Immigrant
raid rumor fuels fear in Central Calif. [Associated Press]
The
rumor spread like wildfire via phone calls, text messages and social media
postings and has persisted now for more than three weeks: Immigration agents
are rounding up unauthorized workers in Central California farming communities.
In Madera, Dinuba, Reedley and parts of Fresno, streets emptied out, soccer
games were cancelled and usually bustling businesses saw few customers. Area
farmers say their employees are scared, with some not coming to work. Children
are missing school. The disruption has become so widespread and unrelenting
that local law enforcement and business leaders took the unusual step of
holding a news conference Friday to try to reassure the community that no raids
have occurred.
Steinberg
floats legislation for governing proposed Delta tunnels [Sacramento Bee]
California's
state Senate leader has an idea to resolve mistrust generated by Gov. Jerry
Brown's plan for two giant water diversion tunnels in the Sacramento-San
Joaquin Delta: new legislation that would lay out regulations for how the
tunnels would operate. Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg,
D-Sacramento, floated the idea in a speech this week at a conference held by
the Association of California Water Agencies in Sacramento. He said that
perhaps a long-delayed water bond, now targeted for the 2014 ballot, could
include language to "operationalize the rules of the game" for the
tunnels. He also suggested amending the state constitution to achieve the same
effect.
Delta
Plan, years in making, nears vote [Stockton Record]
When
it comes to the Delta, all you hear about these days are tunnels. But a much
broader plan to be voted on this week will govern the estuary long after most
of us are dead. After three years, tens of thousands of public comments and
tens of millions of dollars spent, the Delta Stewardship Council is poised to
adopt a new vision for the estuary - one that is supposed to balance the
state's water needs with the fragile environment while also protecting the
Delta as a unique place. The legally enforceable Delta Plan could determine
where we live, how our cities grow, the health of our farm-based economy and
the very nature of the landscape around us. Some will say the plan is a failure
- particularly those within the Delta, who face the most change.
Federal
appeals court takes up Marin oyster farm case Tuesday [Santa Rosa Press
Democrat]
Drakes
Bay Oyster Co.’s fight for survival, which has divided West Marin County
neighbors and gained national attention, resumes Tuesday at a federal
courthouse in San Francisco. Three judges from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of
Appeals will hear 40 minutes of arguments from attorneys for oyster farm
operator Kevin Lunny and former Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, who ordered the
farm’s closure in November. Lunny’s legal challenge, alleging that Salazar’s
decision was “arbitrary and capricious,” has attracted support from Republicans
in Congress and gained the free services of three private law firms and a
Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit with connections to the arch-conservative
billionaire Koch brothers.
High
court rules for Monsanto in seed patent case [Wall Street Journal]
The
U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday that Monsanto Co. can use its patents to
prevent farmers from planting later generations of genetically engineered seeds
without paying for them. Monsanto's Roundup Ready seeds render crops resistant
to weed killer and are planted on much of the nation's farm acreage. But unlike
many inventions, Monsanto's patented biotechnology is self-replicating, prompting
the company to prohibit farmers from saving and planting later-generation seeds
from their harvests. The Supreme Court, in an unanimous ruling by Justice Elena
Kagan, agreed with Monsanto that an elderly Indiana soybean farmer made
unauthorized copies of the company's patented inventions by planting seeds that
contained Roundup Ready traits.
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