Editorial: Interior must ease
rules on water delivery [Bakersfield Californian]
San
Joaquin Valley farmers have been told they'll get only a tiny fraction of the
water they've asked for in 2014. The least the state can do is try to help them
maximize their meager allotment. That's the only way to look at Congressman Jim
Costa's request that Gov. Jerry Brown take emergency action to obtain
additional water for valley farmers. By officially declaring that California is
again in a drought, Brown might help persuade the U.S. Department of the
Interior to ease certain water-delivery restrictions….It won't be the biblical
deluge some might be praying for, but when things are this dire, we'll take
every extra drop we can get. We hope the governor and the Interior Department
are listening.
San
Luis Reservoir expansion in Merced County? [Fresno Bee]
Federal
authorities this week released their appraisal of enlarging San Luis Reservoir,
the major watering hole in the center of the state….Drought and environmental
pumping restrictions have kept the reservoir level to near-record lows this
past summer, much to the dismay of farmers and cityfolk. So San Luis has been
hot news this year. The reservoir's earthen dam, 12 miles west of Los Banos,
could be raised 20 feet to expand the reservoir by about 130,000 acre-feet of
water, says the draft federal appraisal released this week.
Dozens
of Solano farmers, business owners object to air rules [Vacaville Reporter]
Air
quality regulations handed down from the California Air Resources Board (ARB)
are quite the contentious topic in Solano County…."One shoe doesn't fit
all," said Derrick Lum, president of the Solano County Farm Bureau. Lum and
other farmers with small businesses that own tractors were concerned that they
would have to buy new equipment, based on information they were given from the
state about the new regulations. He explained that while their tractors are
old, they have very few hours on them and are still reliable. John Pierson, who
owns 20 acres, owns two tractors. "Tell me how I'm going to make 20 acres
pay for two new tractors," he said. Representatives from the ARB, however,
clarified that they "don't have any plans for regulations in Solano
County." They explained that their focus is on the Central Valley, where
emissions are greater.
Tulare County citrus growers hoping China
opens its market [Visalia Times]
For most of the past eight months, Randy
Veeh, and many of his fellow Central Valley navel orange growers weren’t
greatly concerned about China’s decision to stop importing California citrus.
That decision came in early May, after rotted oranges reportedly were found in
shipments from the state….Now Veeh, a citrus grower and president of Visalia
Citrus Packing House, said concerns among navel farmers — who initially
believed this trade issue would have been settled long before this — are
increasing. Because they’re beginning to harvest navel oranges, and if China
doesn’t open its market soon, navel citrus farmers may take an even bigger,
combined financial hit than Valencia growers.
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USDA
announces new plan to combat salmonella [Los Angeles Times]
The
U.S. Department of Agriculture unveiled a new plan Wednesday to reduce the
number of salmonella outbreaks linked to meat and poultry. The effort comes
weeks after Foster Farms chicken was found to have sickened at least 389 people
nationwide with a virulent strain of salmonella found to be resistant to some
antibiotics….Included in the new plan is a controversial rollout of a pilot
program that would speed up poultry processing lines and replace some USDA
inspectors with plant employees. The USDA said the new plan would focus
inspectors more greatly on food safety, a change that could potentially reduce
5,000 illnesses a year.
Study
key to reducing spinach fertilizer hazard [Salinas Californian]
A
study of Salinas Valley spinach crops has led to important information for
farmers to reduce over-application of fertilizer, which becomes a health risk
when it seeps into groundwater. The study, conducted by the University of
California Cooperative Extension, included researchers from Monterey County who
looked at the critical balance of how much nitrogen fertilizer is absorbed, or
“taken up” by spinach, versus how much is applied by growers. New water
regulations adopted by the Regional Water Quality Control Board in San Luis
Obispo require farmers to match that balance. But spinach has been a challenge
because of the way it is grown and because of the way it absorbs nitrogen.
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