Farm
labor shortage hits Pajaro Valley fields [Santa Cruz Sentinel]
…California
farmers have been complaining about a labor shortage in recent years as
crackdowns on immigration and an improving economy in Mexico have reduced the
number of people crossing the border to work in the state's $44 billion
agricultural industry. But until last year, when signs offering jobs first
appeared in the Pajaro Valley, there was little evidence of a shortage here.
"This year, it's extremely difficult," said Watsonville strawberry
grower Edward Ortega. "Even with wages up, we're not attracting more
help."…California Strawberry Commission spokeswoman Carolyn O'Donnell said
workers aren't only shopping around to see who's paying the most, but also
evaluating the conditions of fields….Watsonville's double-digit unemployment
rate is evidence of a potential workforce, said Cynthia Mathiesen, president of
the Santa Cruz County Farm Bureau. "There is labor out there. (People)
just don't want to work in the fields," said Mathiesen, who manages
intellectual property for Driscoll's. "It's not easy work. It's hard work,
but it's satisfying work."
Salinas
Valley leaders unite to urge immigration reform [Salinas Californian]
If
House Republicans could have squeezed into a tiny conference room in Salinas on
Tuesday, their opposition to bipartisan immigration reform would likely have
been significantly eroded. One by one, leaders representing nearly every facet
of the Salinas Valley community, delivered passionate pleas for the House
leadership to end its siege of the bipartisan Senate bill that provides both
increased border enforcement and a path to legal status for the estimated 11
million people who, as several speakers noted, are now living in the shadows —
terrified of being deported….Sponsored by the Watsonville-based California
Strawberry Commission, the rally at the National Steinbeck Center was in effect
a send-off for a Salinas Valley delegation who will travel to Washington, D.C.,
to put pressure on California’s 15 GOP representatives, as well as House
Speaker John Boehner and other members of the leadership, to quit obstructing
passage of comprehensive immigration reform….Growers and labor contractors say
this year’s harvest will be challenged again by a shortage of labor. That
concern for sufficient labor pulled together the Grower-Shipper Association of
Central California, the state Federation of Farm Bureaus and the United Farm
Workers union, a unique pairing in support of the bipartisan Senate bill.
Watchdog
questions ethics of Valadao's opposition to high-speed rail [Fresno Bee]
A
Washington watchdog organization wants the Office of Congressional Ethics to
investigate Hanford Republican David Valadao over his moves to oppose
California's high-speed rail project. Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in
Washington, or CREW, sent its request Tuesday to the Office of Congressional
Ethics. In its five-page letter, CREW alleges that the first-term congressman
"abused his position on the House Committee on Appropriations to benefit
his and his family's financial interest."…CREW requested the investigation
after The Bee reported on July 14 that several Valadao Dairy properties sit
directly along one proposed high-speed rail route through Kings County, and
that the family owns other parcels within a mile of two route options….In an
email Tuesday afternoon, Valadao spokeswoman Anna Vetter avoided addressing the
CREW allegations and instead focused on Valadao's consistent stance against
high-speed rail in both the state Assembly and in Congress.
MID:
Wells threaten soil in Stanislaus County [Modesto Bee]
As
Stanislaus County supervisors received a glowing report Tuesday on the surge of
almond production, a couple of blocks away irrigation leaders somberly
discussed the downside. Millions of recently planted nut trees in rolling hills
on the county's east side rely on groundwater pumped from scores of new
industrial wells that are sure to drain aquifers, Modesto Irrigation District
officials fear.…MID directors hope county supervisors will do something about
it soon, while supervisors say their hands are full with more important water
matters. For example, they're trying to prevent an unrelated state raid on
irrigation water in the name of helping fish….Stanislaus' five supervisors,
four of whom own farmland, in September are scheduled to confront a groundwater
ordinance focused on export sales, not overdraft pumping.
Editorial: Sinking feeling in
valley [Santa Maria Times]
The
ground is sinking in the Cuyama Valley and it’s no mystery why. Local farmers
have watched the ground water levels drop steadily for the past four decades.
They also recognize the physics involved — the more water drawn out of the ground
with wells, the lower the water levels go, and eventually the ground on the
surface succumbs to the empty spaces far below….But, as with most dynamics in
nature, the sinking ground level is more complicated than just farmers pumping
out water to nurture crops. It’s obvious the pumping is a major issue, but it’s
made worse by two winters of virtually no rainfall in the Cuyama Valley.…They
don’t have to. There is a reliable water source in the Pacific Ocean. It only
needs the salt to be removed. This is a concept we’ve discussed many times, but
the USGS study of Cuyama’s situation definitively underlines the need to
consider regional desalination.
Sups:
Without storage, no on bond [Porterville Recorder]
The
issue of putting a bond measure before state voters has been a critical topic
for the last several years for the county Board of Supervisors in its effort to
make sure the Valley, and especially Tulare County, where the much of the
nation’s food is grown, has enough quality water to support it. One of the
biggest contentions for the board now is a lack of water storage the current
proposal does not address….In an effort to express the needs of Tulare County,
supervisors have drafted a letter of explaining their position. “The proposed
funding allocation for the development of surface water storage and supply, and
for the improvement of water quality are insufficient for the maintenance and
preservation of agriculture, the number one industry in California,” the letter
states.
Ag
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