Merced County is sinking; researchers blame over-pumping of groundwater [Modesto Bee]
So
much groundwater is being pumped from the San Joaquin Valley that it’s causing
a massive swath of Merced County’s surface to sink at an alarming rate, U.S.
Geological Survey researchers revealed Thursday. Parts of Merced south of El
Nido dropped more than 21 inches in just two years. That area – often called
Red Top by locals – appears to be continuing to sink at a rate of nearly 1 foot
per year….“A foot a year of subsidence (near El Nido) is a very rapid rate,”
said Michelle Sneed, the USGS hydrologist who was the lead author of the new
report. “I think that’s alarming.”…Among the things that seems to be causing overdraft
of Merced’s aquifer, is that farmers have changed what they grow. “We are
finding that row crops are decreasing and more permanent crops are being
planted,” Sneed noted.
Editorial: California is
drowning in ancient and unfair water rules [Los Angeles Daily News]
…Farming
accounts for more than 80 percent of the state’s water usage, while providing
less than 5 percent of its gross domestic product. That economic reality drives
wasteful and even unsustainable agricultural practices, like flooding fields
for rice cultivation in a state whose urban population constantly is hectored
about water conservation….We’re a different state than we were in the
mid-1800s. Water regulations need to reflect that reality. This inequity
underpins the debate now raging over the governor’s Bay Delta Conservation
Plan, a multi-billion project to restore wetlands in the delta while building a
more dependable water conveyance system serving agriculture and Southern
California users. Until and unless our elected officials in Sacramento start
getting pressure to legislate some water parity on the state’s biggest water
users, then the rest of us will continue to fight over the remaining 20
percent.
Valley
citrus disease leads Hidden Harvest to stop collecting [Palm Springs Desert
Sun]
Valley
backyards are brimming with lemons, limes and grapefruits at this time of year,
and in the past, much of this bumper crop found its way to one centralized
location for distribution to food banks. But no longer. In an effort to prevent
the spread of a fatal citrus disease, a local food rescue group has stopped
gathering and distributing the valley’s excess backyard fruit. Coachella-based
Hidden Harvest, a produce-recovery organization, suspended its annual backyard
citrus collection program in 2012 after the Asian Citrus Psyllid — a tiny bug
that’s harmless to trees themselves, but can carry a bacteria that causes
citrus greening disease, known as Huanglongbing — was discovered in the
Coachella Valley.
Typhoon
revives debate on U.S. food aid methods [New York Times]
…The
Obama administration and some lawmakers say the disaster in the Philippines
underscores the need to revise the program and give the aid agency the
flexibility to buy less expensive food closer to the areas where disasters
occur. Right now most American food aid is shipped from the United States, as
required by law. The United States remains the only major donor country that
continues to send food to humanitarian crisis spots, rather than buy food
produced locally. But the proposed program has met stiff resistance from the
agriculture and shipping industries that say it will hurt American farmers and
cost jobs. In Congress, both the Senate and House have rejected amendments to a
new five-year farm bill that would have made significant changes to the
food-aid program, although the Senate amendment does include modest increases
in the amount of food that can be purchased locally.
Nuts
for longevity: Daily handful is linked to longer life [NPR]
…There's
a growing body of scientific evidence that's putting a health halo over
supermarkets' expanding nut aisles….Now, a new study published in the New
England Journal of Medicine finds that people in the habit of eating a daily
handful (a 1-ounce serving) of nuts are more likely to live longer compared
with people who rarely consume nuts….With all the good news about nuts in the
news, experts who track food trends say more Americans are eating them.
"Nuts are in the perfect spot right now," says of Mintel. The market
research firm estimates that sales of nuts and dried fruit in the U.S. will
grow from about $7 billion in annual sales in 2012 to over $9 billion by 2017.
Commentary:
That turkey on your plate could use some more industry competition [Washington
Post]
…The
turkey tells a story about our nation. But today, the story of turkey in
America has seen independence replaced by servitude, and open markets by opaque
contracts….Just four corporations — Cargill, Hormel, Butterball and Farbest
Foods — produce more than half of the turkey in the United States, a level of
concentration unthinkable just a few decades ago….You don’t have to be a
Pilgrim to know that unchecked power rarely goes unused. The days of falling
prices are gone. Meat prices jumped more than 7 percent in 2011 and more than 3
percent last year, and the USDA estimates that prices are continuing to rise
steadily and could increase as much as 3.5 percent next year. Consumers pay
more, farmers earn less, and companies in the middle reap a windfall from the
difference.
Ag
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