Local
supporters of dairy bill heading to Sacramento [Visalia Times-Delta]
…While
the Fletcher family was selling off their cows, members of the California
Assembly’s Committee on Agriculture were preparing for a public hearing
Wednesday at the state capital on new legislation that could increase the
prices farmers get for their milk. And many dairy operators are pinning their
hopes on Assembly Bill 31, which would alter the California milk order — which
sets the price dairies get for their milk every month — so the prices farmers
get for the “4b” milk, used to manufacture cheese and whey, would be closer to
what dairies in most other states get for the same milk under the federal
government’s pricing system….Tom Barcellos, a Tulare-area dairyman, is footing
the bill for a 55-seat bus to take people to the capitol Wednesday morning and
bring them home after the AB 31 hearing….The Agricultural Committee will vote
on whether to forward the bill for a vote by the full Assembly, and if that
happens the legislation would move to the state Senate.
Sacramento
district agrees to remove ammonia in sewage settlement [Sacramento Bee]
The
Sacramento region will proceed with removing ammonia from its sewage effluent,
settling a key dispute in a legal battle over protecting water quality in the
Delta. In the settlement reached Friday, the Sacramento Regional County
Sanitation District agreed it no longer will fight the terms of a state permit,
issued in 2010, that requires the capital region to remove ammonia and nitrogen
from its urban wastewater….This effluent is the largest single source of
ammonia entering the aquatic environment of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta;
scientists say it has contributed to an altered food chain and potentially the
decline of native fish species. The sanitation district has contested the
science behind this claim. But it agreed to drop its opposition to the
treatment requirement in the lawsuit, originally filed against the state in
2011.
The
consensus seems to be: Let somebody else fix the delta [Los Angeles Times]
Confidential
surveys of water officials, water users and others involved with the
Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta offer some telling insight on why the delta is
stuck in a perpetual quagmire. When it comes to fixing the hub of California’s
water system, most parties would prefer it if someone else made the sacrifices.
The surveys, conducted last year by the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of
California and discussed in a new institute report, found that there was
general agreement with scientists about the nature of the problems that have
pushed several of the delta’s native fish species to the brink of extinction:
altered and diminished water flows, water pollution, loss of fish and wildlife
habitat, invasive species and fishery management.
Kern
watershed runoff just a trickle of normal [Bakersfield Californian]
This
year is shaping up to among the driest in more than a century for the Kern
River….The driest year on record for the Kern River was 1961 when the river
flowed into Lake Isabella at 19 percent of normal….Ag interests in the San
Joaquin Valley that rely on the river are all bracing for a hard irrigation
season, particularly as state allocations have dropped to 35 percent of
contracted amounts and federal allocations have dropped to 50 percent.
"We're relying almost exclusively on groundwater wells this year,"
said Richard Diamond, general manager of North Kern Water Storage District.
Last year was fairly dry, he said. But this year's lack of moisture has created
"a pretty bad situation."
Europe
bans pesticides thought harmful to bees [New York Times]
The
European Commission will enact a two-year ban on a class of pesticides thought
to be harming global bee populations, the European Union’s health commissioner
said Monday….Bayer CropScience called the commission’s plan “a setback for
technology, innovation and sustainability,” and warned of “crop yield losses,
reduced food quality and loss of competitiveness for European agriculture.”
Europe’s struggle with the question of neonicotinoids and bee health is being
closely watched in the United States, where the pesticides are in wide use, and
where a bee die-off over the past winter appears to have been one of the worst
ever….Neonicotinoids are among the world’s most effective and widely used
insecticides, and there is significant disagreement as to how much — if at all
— they are contributing to the crisis that has devastated global wild and
domesticated bee populations.
Budget
cuts may ax Urban Wildlife Services [Santa Maria Times]
A
few weeks ago, as the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors was perusing
department costs in anticipation of its annual budget meetings, one line item
from the Ag Commissioner’s Office peaked their interest: Urban Wildlife
Services. Interest was high because the price tag looked like it could reach
$147,000. Ag Commissioner Cathy Fisher said the item was nothing new: The
county has had a contract with the U.S. Department of Agriculture Animal and
Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) for more than 80 years. “The primary
service is to provide services to the ag community,” Fisher said, explaining
that a lot of the work they do is to maintain crop and food safety. This work
is mostly related to the damage feral hogs can do to vegetable and berry crops.
Ag
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