Farmers
sue on Klamath water releases for salmon [San Francisco Chronicle]
A
simmering feud over water rights boiled over Thursday when Central Valley
agricultural interests sued the federal government in an attempt to stop
releases into the Klamath River to protect spawning salmon. At issue is a
decision Wednesday by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to release cold Trinity
River water into the lower Klamath between Aug. 15 and Sept. 21 to prevent what
biologists fear could be a giant fish die-off if river flows are not increased.
The lawsuit, filed by the San Luis & Delta-Mendota Water Authority and the
Westlands Water District, both of which represent farmers who receive water
from the federal Central Valley Project, claims the Bureau of Reclamation does
not have the legal authority to release water that should rightfully be used to
irrigate thousands of acres of farmland. Farmers south of the Sacramento-San
Joaquin Rivers Delta have been allocated only 20 percent of the water they
contracted for this year, claimed the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in
Sacramento.
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Farmers
experiencing wells drying up [Porterville Recorder]
A
lack of rain and snow this winter is catching up to not only farmers, but rural
areas where wells are going dry. This is the sixth driest year in a record of
100 years, with 1977 being the driest, according to Richard Shafer, water
master of Tule River and secretary of the Tule River Association. “This is
probably one of the worst years I’ve ever seen,” Steve Arthur, vice president
of Arthur and Orum Well Drilling out of Fresno, stated. “The water level is
dropping dramatically right now — throughout the whole Valley, basically.”
Tulare County depends on both surface water and ground water for agriculture,
drinking water and fish and wildlife. With so many dry years, and this year
being one of the driest with only a little over 5 inches of rainfall last
winter, much of the surface water has been used up.
Businesses
push for more low-skill visas [Wall Street Journal]
As
Congress considers an immigration overhaul, an eclectic group of businesses is
stepping up in support, eager to take advantage of new categories of
low-skilled immigrant laborers the legislation would allow. Proposals in both
the House and Senate would allow hundreds of thousands of foreign workers to
take on a broader set of U.S. jobs, opening a path for more immigrants to work
on dairy farms, in meatpacking plants and on golf courses. In addition to
expanding the number of visas available, proposals in both chambers would make
it possible for industries that aren't now able to turn to foreign labor to
hire low-skilled and temporary workers. Employers as diverse as assisted-living
facilities, mushroom farmers and nurseries are among those pushing to be
included in any effort to rewrite the immigration laws.
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SM
farmer lobbies for immigration reform [Santa Maria Times]
Strawberries
and microchips wouldn’t seem to have a lot in common, but the two industries
teamed up last week to lobby national lawmakers on immigration reform. The
California Strawberry Commission and the Silicon Valley Leadership Group
partnered in an assault on Washington, D.C., visiting legislators and pushing
for meaningful change in the nation’s immigration policy. Santa Maria farmer
and Strawberry Commissioner Lorena Chavez was among the contingent and she told
representatives of Congress and the House about the labor shortage her business
deals with every day. “We have jobs available here for farm workers.
Unfortunately we don’t have the people to fill the positions,” said Chavez, a
second-generation farmer whose father Luis Chavez came to the United States as
a field worker in the Bracero program that began during World War II and worked
his way to owning his own acreage. “They all seemed to understand the issue
there.” The pilgrimage to Capitol Hill by the two industries was intended to
drive home the point that there is a link between two of California’s biggest
industries and immigration.
Opinion: Immigration reform:
Pro-Growth and Pro-Agriculture [Visalia Times-Delta]
Earlier
this year, the U.S. Senate passed a commonsense immigration reform measure in a
strongly bipartisan fashion. This was an important step in the right direction
especially for producers, farm workers and rural communities. The historic
legislation passed by the Senate provides a pathway to earned citizenship for
the 11 million people who are in our country today without authorization. They
will have to go to the back of the line, pay fines and settle taxes they owe
our nation. It would modernize the system that we use to bring skilled workers
into the United States. And it would put in place the toughest border security
plan that America has ever seen building on steps that have reduced illegal
border crossings to their lowest level in decades.
Commentary: Minimum wage: Santa
Clara County proposal would hit farmers hard [San Jose Mercury News]
The
Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors has asked staff to prepare a report
about the pros and cons of raising minimum wage to $10 an hour in
unincorporated areas of the county. Most farms (and not many other jobs) are
located in unincorporated areas, which makes this proposed increase feel like a
target on the backs of farmers. As the supervisors consider the impacts this
would have on the good people of our county, I hope they'll keep me in mind. My
father and I raise peppers, sweet corn, pumpkins, strawberries, and Napa
cabbage. Our farm is headquartered outside of Gilroy and we provide jobs to 257
employees. We provide healthcare, paid vacations, and bonuses for our
employees, and our wages range from $9 to $72 per hour. During the peak season,
we employee another 400 people in Santa Clara County for about four months at a
minimum of $9.00 per hour. In agriculture we work for pennies. We get paid
about $330 per ton of bell peppers, or $16.5 cents per pound. In a good year,
we spend 95 cents of every dollar we earn. It's a balancing act to be economic
viable, engage in our community and steward our environmental resources. Every
time our costs increase, it limits our ability to invest in our business,
manage risk and protect our sustainability.
Ag
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