Valley-based Foster Farms faces tough road to win back consumers [Fresno Bee]
If
past food-borne illness outbreaks are any indication of what Foster Farms faces
in regaining its foothold in the marketplace, it won't be an easy climb,
experts say….Experts in consumer attitudes and public relations say any
food-borne illness outbreak has the potential to be devastating for a company
or industry. Christine Bruhn, director of the Center for Consumer Research at
the University of California at Davis, said that during the 2006 outbreak of
E.coli in bagged spinach, it took several months for the industry to
recover….To regain consumer confidence, Bruhn said it's important for companies
like Foster Farms to show they are making changes to address the problem. Betsy
Hays, a public relations professional and associate professor at Fresno State,
said companies must also confront skittish consumers with usable information.
That could be through words, pictures or videos showing food safety
procedures.…Foster Farms has taken some of those steps. On its website, the
company said it's doing everything it can to improve food safety and it issued
an apology.
Options
sought in Oakdale to avert water crisis [Modesto Bee]
Five
friends calling themselves the Eastside Groundwater Coalition will stage an
open meeting Monday in Oakdale to discuss dwindling underground water. It’s the
first known response by regular people to an emerging threat of dry weather
combined with a sharp increase in industrial-size wells drilled by growers of
millions of new almond trees to the east. “It’s astounding to see all the huge
tractors chiseling dirt for new orchards,” said Neil Hudson, a photographer and
former city planning commissioner. “It’s a new gold rush, and there are no
controls (to restrict pumping).”…Unlike most states, California does not
regulate groundwater. Some counties have adopted rules, usually after facing
crises such as the one unfolding here. Stanislaus supervisors on Oct. 29 will
consider a groundwater ordinance that would restrict exporting well water in
some circumstances. The draft ordinance is a product of four years of difficult
negotiations – and doesn’t begin to address much stickier questions of policing
pumping.
Napa
marchers protest Monsanto, GMO foods [Napa Valley Register]
Chanting
“We will stop Monsanto!,” about 100 people marched through downtown Napa on
Saturday to protest the agribusiness giant and engineered foods….Napa’s “March
Against Monsanto” took place in conjunction with hundreds of similar events
nationwide and in more than 50 countries….The speakers urged the public to eat
organic agricultural products and avoid consuming genetically engineered foods
— also known as genetically modified organisms, or GMOs….Organizers also
invited the participants to sign a petition to urge the Napa County Board of
Supervisors and the Napa City Council to approve a resolution in support of
labeling genetically engineered foods.
Blizzard
ravages South Dakota's livestock industry [Los Angeles Times]
From
inside a small plane cruising over cattle country here, Scott Reder spied the
carnage and felt sick to his stomach….Reder is among thousands of ranchers who
last week watched helplessly as a killer early-autumn blizzard decimated 80,000
head of cattle. Calling it the state's worst economic disaster in decades,
officials say the storm has ravaged South Dakota's $7-billion livestock
industry….Silvia Christen, executive director of the South Dakota Stockgrowers
Assn., called the die-off a "perfect storm" of bad weather and — amid
the federal shutdown — worse political timing. The disaster has already caused
a "noticeable jump" in the price of live cattle, a rise that could
eventually be felt by consumers, she said….Yet Washington's shutdown has
deprived people here of a traditional safety net: Congress hasn't passed a new
farm bill to subsidize agricultural producers, and the lockout means
legislators won't be voting on the topic any time soon.
Commentary: Gov. Brown, this
doesn't feel right [Fresno Bee]
…The
ongoing saga of Reedley-based Gerawan Farms paints a distinct portrait whereby
the rights and desires of the workers have been relegated to inferior status as
compared with the wishes of the union….I have been working long enough with
Sacramento legislators and regulators to realize there are many well-intended
individuals who truly believe that workers, particularly farmworkers, are
better off with a union whether the worker knows it or not. This paternalistic
attitude is very evident but ignores the realities that while the Legislature
continues to pass laws that benefit the worker, the harder it is for the union
to show value and justify taking 3% out of the workers' paychecks. More
importantly, this forced unionization is in direct contradiction to the most
cherished of all freedoms, the right to make personal choices.
Commentary: Food safety rule
deadline nears [Salinas Californian]
The
Food Safety Modernization Act was signed into law by President Obama on Jan. 4,
2011. Almost three years later, FDA is accepting comments on its draft
rules….California is unique in that our agricultural industry already has a
number of robust food safety programs in place. In the Salinas and Pajaro
Valleys, the one you hear about the most about is the Leafy Green Handlers
Marketing Agreement….While many of the federal rules will likely complement the
Agreement rules and make them more standardized nationally, GSA will be making
comments to FDA on a number of nuances to the proposed rule, and encourage
recognition of current programs as well as achievable, straightforward,
science-risk-based requirements.
Ag
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