Livestock
antibiotic use rampant despite warnings [San Francisco Chronicle]
In
March, the head of the Centers for Disease Control issued an alarm, echoed by
virtually every health authority in the world, that antibiotic-resistant
bacteria threaten to return humans to the days when ordinary infections
routinely killed and maimed. Yet the United States continues to use at least 70
percent of its antibiotics on livestock, to shave pennies per pound from the
price of pork chops or chicken wings that are consumed by millions of Americans
every day. Millions of pounds of antibiotics are routinely administered at low
doses to large numbers of animals living in crowded conditions, not because
they are sick, but to speed their growth and prevent possible infections, creating
ideal conditions for bacteria to become resistant. At the same time,
drug-resistant infections acquired in hospitals kill 70,000 people a year. The
problem is so dire that the Obama administration is paying drug companies to
develop new antibiotics, and some groups want to test them directly on sick
people to speed approval.
Farm
bill’s fate in House bodes ill for immigration reform [New York Times]
The
story of the 113th Congress was on display during a single afternoon this week.
On the Senate floor on Thursday, Republicans and Democrats forged a hard-fought
path forward on a bill to overhaul the nation’s immigration system. At the same
time, the House was voting down the farm bill, historically one of the easiest
legislative lifts for Congress. Though both chambers have added more
conservative Republican members over the last few election cycles and partisan
divides have deepened, the House and Senate are set on disparate legislative
trajectories that may well linger for the rest of this Congress and beyond, and
may be a dark harbinger for immigration legislation. “If you think this is
hard,” said Trey Gowdy, Republican of South Carolina and one of the scores from
his party who joined Democrats, for opposite reasons, to bring down the farm
bill, “try getting 218 on a path to legal status.” Senate Republicans and
Democrats have come to a compromise on various issues this year, even along the
margins, passing drama-free measures like a farm bill, and the Violence Against
Women Act. They appear to be working in earnest to come together on
immigration, with each side seeking significant policy and political goals.
Commentary: Boehner's
leadership fails farm bill stress test [Sacramento Bee]
House
Speaker John Boehner stopped by the Hyatt Regency on Capitol Hill on Thursday
afternoon to pitch a gathering of the National Association of Manufacturers on
the Republicans' plans for jobs and growth. "While my colleagues and I
don't have a majority here in Washington," the speaker vowed, "we're
going to continue to pursue our plan." Or will they? Not an hour after
those words were uttered, Boehner's House Republicans dealt him the latest in a
series of humiliations. Sixty-two Republicans voted against the farm bill,
defeating a major piece of legislation Boehner had made a test of his
leadership by pushing for it publicly and voting for it personally – something
speakers only do on the most important bills. The dispute this time was over
food stamps and agricultural subsidies, but the pattern was the same: House
leaders lost Democratic support by tilting the bill to satisfy the Republican
base, but a group of conservative purists remained upset that the legislation
didn't go far enough.
Local
farmers worry about finding enough farmworkers [Bakersfield Californian]
As
a thousand acres of table grapes approach peak ripeness on his farm near Arvin,
grower Rick Deckard says he's more concerned about fruit prices than he is
about getting enough farmworkers to do the picking. But that may soon change.
Worries are mounting that the Central Valley's agricultural industry is falling
ever shorter of the experienced labor it needs to bring its produce to market.
Despite wage increases and growing investment in automated harvesting
equipment, ag trade groups say a worker shortage threatens farmers' profits.
They fear that, over the long term, it will push them toward less
labor-intensive crops that, in turn, will raise prices on fruit and vegetables
that require experienced field workers….Trade group leaders called on Central
Valley congressmen, and specifically House Whip Kevin McCarthy, R-Bakersfield,
to work out a bipartisan compromise on the bill co-authored and championed by
Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Florida. The bill being debated in the U.S. Senate, the
Border Security, Economic Opportunity and Immigration Modernization Act of
2013, would provide a chance at citizenship for the nation's estimated 11
million immigrants here without authorization since the end of 2011. Specific
provisions benefit agricultural workers and children of immigrants. The bill
proposes tougher border enforcement, including work on a border fence. It would
also tighten workplace hiring rules by expanding use of an electronic
employment eligibility system. If signed into law, it would be the nation's largest
immigration overhaul in more than a quarter century….The president of the
California Farm Bureau Federation, Paul Wenger, said the Rubio bill is not
perfect but at least it has support from lawmakers in both parties. "If we
don't get this (reform) done by August, we better not even discuss it for six
or seven years because it's not going to happen," Wenger said. But even he
wondered how much immigration reform will help farmers in the long term. He
said in Mexico -- California's traditional source of farmworkers -- the overall
population is aging and having smaller families. Even so, he asserted that
immigration reform would help alleviate the labor shortage in the near term.
$84-million
removal of a dam on Carmel River set to begin [Los Angeles Times]
More
than 90 years ago the San Clemente Dam rose on what John Steinbeck called in a
novel "a lovely little river" that "has everything a river
should have." These days, that's not so true of the Carmel River, which
empties into the Pacific Ocean just south of Carmel. The river is overpumped.
Flood plain has been lost to development, and the silted-up San Clemente is
vulnerable to collapse in an earthquake, threatening 1,500 downstream
structures. But next month, in what officials say is the state's largest-ever
dam removal, work will begin on a three-year project to dismantle the
106-foot-tall concrete dam and reroute half a mile of the river. The demolition
will open up 25 miles of spawning and rearing habitat for a threatened
population of steelhead trout, help replenish sand on Carmel Beach and
eliminate a huge headache for the utility that owns the dam.
Officials
release Merced area water plan [Fresno Bee]
The
region's first integrated water management plan has been released, and the
collaborative effort provides a "big picture" perspective on water,
officials said. Multiple agencies, including the city of Merced, Merced County
and the Merced Irrigation District, joined forces with more than 35 community
stakeholders — a Regional Advisory Committee — to create the plan. It took more
than a year to draft, but the "Integrated Regional Water Management
Plan" covers issues such as water conservation, flood control, water
quality, groundwater recharging and climate change….Jean Okuye, Merced County
Farm Bureau president, said education is the key to finding solutions to water
issues, such as erosion and subsidence. "As president of the Farm Bureau,
I'm concerned about the farmers who might be losing their land because of
erosion," she said. "What can we do to save that land? By having this
plan, we will be able to get grants that will provide the means of
education."
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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