Vineyard owners worried about potential water restrictions [Santa Rosa Press Democrat]
If
the debilitating drought continues, farmers and ranchers with rights to
California's creeks, rivers and lakes may be ordered to stop drawing the water
that is vital to agricultural operations. That is the message Gov. Jerry Brown
sent last week in his emergency drought declaration that, among other things,
put water rights holders on notice that they may be directed to cease taking
surface water. The order is a further blow to grape growers along the Russian
River basin who already fear that one of the worst droughts on record will
ravage their crops….Tito Sasaki, president of the Sonoma County Farm Bureau,
said farmers and ranchers who have water rights could suffer if curtailment is
ordered. Ranchers already truck in expensive water to arid pastures and buy
feed for livestock. Sasaki recognizes that the state has a role to play in
drought relief, but doesn't want water rights to be compromised.
Oakdale Irrigation
District sets closed session to discuss water sale [Modesto Bee]
The
Oakdale Irrigation District has warned area farmers the drought will shrink
water deliveries this year, but OID directors will meet behind closed doors
today to discuss options for selling some of Oakdale’s scarce water supply for
big bucks to agencies outside the region.…Steve Knell, district general
manager, said OID is negotiating to sell water to “multiple parties south of
the Delta, some all the way to Los Angeles.”…A source close to the public
agency says OID is considering paying Oakdale pasture owners to fallow
thousands of acres of land this year so it can make a multimillion-dollar water
deal with the Fresno-based Westlands Water District. Others also have heard OID
has such a sale in the works. “This concept of fallowing land (to free up
irrigation water) has been talked about for about three months and – as we
understood it – their partner would be Westlands,” said Tom Orvis, the
Stanislaus County Farm Bureau’s governmental affairs director. “But we haven’t
heard the details.”
Editorial: Another day of water wars and nary a drop of progress
[Fresno Bee]
A
news conference featuring House Speaker John Boehner at a dusty Kern County
field made for dramatic political theater Wednesday afternoon. But it's doubtful
that the emergency drought legislation touted by Republican lawmakers will be
bear fruit this year for parched San Joaquin Valley farmers….We would like to
believe that in a crisis the opponents would drop their talking points and
lawsuits, and find common ground so that unemployment doesn't soar and food
lines don't lengthen. Unfortunately for Valley residents, the divides among the
factions are so wide that even the realities of fallow fields, hurting families
and unprecedented groundwater pumping likely won't bridge the gap among big
stakeholders and their political allies.
Foster Farms reopens
Livingston chicken plant after 10-day closure [Modesto Bee]
Foster
Farms reopened its chicken plant Wednesday, after a 10-day voluntary closure to
work on sanitation measures. All 3,500 employees have been called back to the
plant, which had closed after a cockroach problem detected by the U.S.
Department of Agriculture. “People are very anxious to get back to work,” said
Gurpal Samra, the city’s mayor pro tem. “We have a lot of hardworking people
who live paycheck to paycheck.”
States weighing
labels on genetically altered food [Associated Press]
In
the absence of federal regulation, states from Rhode Island to Hawaii are
considering laws to require labels on food items containing genetically
modified ingredients. Currently, only Connecticut and Maine have laws requiring
labels for genetically modified food. But those requirements won't kick in
until other states adopt their own rules. Bills to do just that are expected in
more than two dozen states….Voters in California and Washington rejected ballot
proposals in the past two years that would have required GMO labeling. And in
New Hampshire, lawmakers defeated a GMO labeling bill Wednesday. Among other
arguments, opponents said any labeling requirements would likely face a legal
challenge.
Editorial: Iowa Rep. Steve King lays an egg on the farm bill [Los
Angeles Times]
Chickens
and eggs have provoked a controversy in Congress over what comes first,
interstate commerce rules or state laws. According to Rep. Steve King, a
Republican from Iowa (the nation's largest egg-producing state), California's
new law requiring that all eggs sold in the state come from chickens kept in
non-confining cages violates the interstate commerce clause of the
Constitution….Ideally, laws that sensibly protect farm animals, consumers of
agricultural products and the people who work in these industries would all be
federal laws, uniformly governing all 50 states. But it hasn't worked out that
way. States have put in place health and welfare laws that set reasonable,
up-to-date standards when the federal government has lagged behind. The Senate
version of the farm bill does not include this amendment. As House and Senate
conferees reconcile the bill, they should throw out the King amendment.
Ag
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