Immigration
bill clears hurdle in Senate [Los Angeles Times]
A
sweeping bipartisan plan to overhaul the nation's immigration system headed to
the Senate floor after a key committee approved it Tuesday, setting the stage
for a debate next month that could lead to the biggest victory for advocates of
immigrant rights in a generation.…The bill faces weeks of debate in the Senate.
Both Democrats and Republicans will seek to undo some of the compromises in the
bill, and GOP opponents may yet try to sink it. An even tougher challenge lies
ahead in the House, where members of the Republican majority have been less
interested than their Senate counterparts in a comprehensive revamping of
immigration policy. The Senate Judiciary Committee approved the bill, 13 to 5,
with three Republicans joining the majority Democrats. A last-minute deal
persuaded one GOP senator to join the two Republicans who had helped draft the
bill, but the other Republicans remained adamantly opposed. The bill would
provide a path to citizenship for people who came into the country illegally or
overstayed visas, so long as they entered before December 2011. They must get
provisional status, show a viable income, pay back taxes, fees and fines, and
learn English. They can gain permanent legal status in 10 years and apply for
citizenship in 13 years. The process is half as long for agricultural workers
who commit to jobs in the fields and adults who were brought to the country as
minors but serve in the military or attend college.
Senate
votes to make small cut to food stamps [Associated Press]
The
Senate voted Tuesday to keep a $400 million annual cut — or roughly a half of 1
percent — to the food stamp program as part of a major five-year farm bill.…The
Senate Agriculture Committee included the small cut in its version of the farm
bill in an effort to appease the House Republicans and also to end what its
chairwoman, Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., said was a misuse of the program.
The Senate bill would target states that give people who don't have heating
bills very small amounts of heating assistance so they can automatically
qualify for higher food stamp benefits.…Resolving the differences on food aid,
now called the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, between the
two chambers will be key to passage of the massive five-year farm bill that
lawmakers are attempting to push through for the third year in a row. The
far-reaching bill costs almost $100 billion annually and would set policy for
farm subsidies, rural programs and the food aid. The House version of the farm
bill would cut $2 billion a year, or a little more than 3 percent, from the
food aid program, which has more than doubled in cost since 2008.
Survey:
Cost is barrier to sustainable farming [Salinas Californian]
The
biggest barrier to Salinas Valley growers not adopting more environmentally
friendly practices is the initial costs involved, according to a newly released
survey of specialty crop growers in California. Ed Thompson, the California
director for the American Farmland Trust, which conducted the survey, said
growers here are more wary of getting involved with the government than their
counterparts in the Midwest farmlands.…In the focus groups, the trust learned
that growers here would prefer financial assistance through a tax credit for
investing in what the trust calls environmentally beneficial management
practices. There are existing tax deductions available, but deductions only
lower the taxable income. Tax credits, on the other hand, would allow growers
to lower their tax obligations penny for penny what they invested in start-up
costs.…The second biggest concern for growers, according to the survey, is what
happens if they adopt more environmentally beneficial practices and their
yields tumble and subsequently their incomes.
Pesticides
make a comeback [Wall Street Journal]
Insecticide
sales are surging after years of decline, as American farmers plant more corn
and a genetic modification designed to protect the crop from pests has started
to lose its effectiveness. The sales are a boon for big pesticide makers, such
as American Vanguard Corp. and Syngenta AG. But it has sparked fresh concerns
among environmental groups and some scientists that one of the most widely
touted benefits of genetically modified crops—that they reduce the need for
chemical pest control—is unraveling. At the same time, the resurgence of
insecticides could expose both farmers and beneficial insects to potential
harm….Monsanto said it continues to recommend that farmers rotate their fields
from corn to other crops, such as soybeans, which "breaks the rootworm
cycle." The St. Louis company also said it and other companies are selling
seeds with more than one rootworm-resistant trait. Scientists have confirmed
rootworm resistance only to the Monsanto seed that includes just one rootworm
trait. Monsanto is phasing out that seed in favor of a multiple-trait version.
And Monsanto says it is developing new technology to fight rootworms, which it
hopes to put on the market by the end of the decade.
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Santa
Cruz County won't oppose timber bill [Santa Cruz Sentinel]
The
Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday declined to weigh in on a
controversy over whether to ease regulatory burdens on timberland owners. Under
a bill pending at the state Legislature, a program aimed at giving a break to
small landowners who practice sustainable harvesting would be expanded to
parcels up to 15,000 acres. While the bill has the backing of conservation
groups, local environmentalists and water agencies want the Santa Cruz
Mountains carved out from the expansion. But with a 4-1 vote, the county board
declined to take up the issue, letting stand an earlier decision not to oppose
the bill.…Backers of the bill include the Land Trust of Santa Cruz County, the
Farm Bureau of Santa Cruz County, Big Creek Lumber and Redwood Empire.… The
bill expands, from 2,500 acres to 15,000 acres, an existing statewide program
for small landowners that allows them to draw up one-time management plans for
sustainably harvested timberlands. At up to $60,000 or more, those plans both
cost more and are more thorough than regular timber harvest plans, but only
have to be approved once.
Eureka
City Council adopts mariculture project resolution [Eureka Times-Standard]
The
Eureka City Council voted 4-1 on Tuesday, with Mayor Pro Tem Mike Newman
dissenting, to adopt a resolution directing the city of Eureka to move forward
on a project with the Humboldt Bay Harbor, Recreation and Conservation District
that would allow the expansion of shellfish operations in Humboldt Bay.
Following the presentation on a proposed Humboldt Bay mariculture
pre-permitting project, Newman said he supports the project and understands
that part of the future of Humboldt Bay is the mariculture industry, but
believes the council needs more information before a resolution is
made.…According to the proposed project, the harbor district would take on the
responsibility of getting the necessary permits and permissions needed to farm
pre-permitted sites in Humboldt Bay and would then lease areas out to shellfish
growers through a bidding process, harbor district Director of Conservation Dan
Berman said….The existing local shellfish industry employs 50 to 60 people and
earns $7 to $8 million in annual revenue, according to Berman.
Ag
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