Our
next Ag Today will be distributed on Tuesday, Feb. 18. CFBF offices will be
closed Monday for the Presidents Day holiday.
Obama
to unveil drought aid package to California during trip to Fresno [San Jose
Mercury New]
When
President Obama visits Fresno this afternoon to discuss California's historic
drought, he will open the federal government's checkbook and make tens of
millions of dollars in aid available to struggling farmers and communities. Obama
will unveil a $183 million aid package that includes money for ranchers in
California who have lost livestock, communities that are running out of water
and farmers that need help conserving scarce water resources….Starting in
April, Central Valley ranchers will be able to apply for $100 million in
livestock disaster assistance funding that was approved by Congress in the 2014
Farm Bill. They can use the money to replace livestock who have died or
purchase feed.
Drought
may be a fertile topic for GOP candidates [Los Angeles Times]
Signs
reading "No Water = No Jobs" line the alfalfa fields and almond
orchards along the highway that bisects this region. The weekly "Ag
Alert" newsletter records worries about tomato and grape crops, and
drought turning dairy pastures brown.
Water,
or the lack of it, is on everyone's minds here in the Central Valley,
stretching from Bakersfield past Sacramento and home of the state's
$45-billion-a-year agriculture industry. Republican candidates for governor are
seizing on the subject as they seek to score political points against the
popular Democratic incumbent, Gov. Jerry Brown….But Brown is clearly paying
attention, stepping up his trips to the Central Valley in recent weeks and going
to the World Ag Expo for the first time in three decades. He is due back in the
region Friday to tour drought-ravaged land with President Obama, reflecting the
attention the problem is receiving even in Washington. Drought response is
being debated in Congress, and Republicans are raising the issue in tight House
races.
Farmers,
community leaders discuss drought at World Ag Expo [Visalia Times-Delta]
With
water so heavily on the minds of California farmers and ranchers attending this
week’s 47th Annual World Ag Expo in Tulare, it seemed appropriate that one of
Thursday’s final events was a forum to discuss the state’s drought. A group of
Valley farmers and leaders from some Valley communities lead off the event by
stating how dire the outlook is if the drought — the worst ever recorded in the
state — doesn’t end soon….And farming operations on the east side the Valley
may see some of the biggest changes, as expectations are that the Friant Water
Authority may not release any water from Millerton Lake for agriculture….The
U.S. Bureau of Reclamation decides how much water can be released into to the
Friant-Kern Canal, and David Murillo, that agency’s mid-Pacific regional
director — who was on a second forum panel of water experts and representatives
from state and federal agencies — said that decision likely will be announced
this weekend, but he wouldn’t reveal it on Thursday.
Battle
brewing over California's Delta smelt [KCRA TV – Sacramento]
A
little fish is at the center of a major political power struggle between
environmentalists and farmers in the Central Valley. Scientists were on the San
Joaquin River Thursday tracking the number of endangered Delta smelt…"The
population numbers are plummeting year by year," said Paul Miklos, a
biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service….It's a fight over fish
versus farms from the halls of Congress to the California Delta. "We have
put fish, we have put the environment, above people, and we need to reevaluate
that," said Paul Wenger, president of the California Farm Bureau. Scientists
are trying to figure out how to protect the Delta smelt, an endangered fish,
without harming California agriculture.
Schumer
Offers Long-Shot Option to Skirt House G.O.P. on Immigration [New York Times]
Senator
Charles E. Schumer, Democrat of New York, offered a long-shot option on
Thursday to revive the moribund effort to overhaul the nation’s immigration
laws that would require the support of more than a dozen House Republicans —
and, if nothing else, pressure others to act on an election-year issue that Tea
Party-aligned members strongly oppose. The legislative maneuver, known as a
discharge petition, would allow supporters of overhauling the nation’s
immigration laws to circumvent the Republican majority in the House by bringing
the measure directly to the House floor, bypassing the regular committee
process. It is a rarely successful tactic, though it was used in 2002 to
eventually win passage of a major campaign finance law….Lawmakers and aides in
both parties say that a discharge petition, especially one coming from Mr.
Schumer, whose views are strongly opposed by many House conservatives, is
unlikely to succeed.
Almond
blooms arrive early [Stockton Record]
California's
annual almond bloom, running 10 days to two weeks ahead of average, is now
getting under way in most areas of the state. It's a critical period for the
multibillion-dollar industry, which produces about 80 percent of the world's
almond supply. Farmers make daily checks on how well honeybees, many rented and
brought in from all over the country for the season, are doing their job of
carrying pollen from blossom to blossom….Phippen and other almond experts
indicated the season seems off to a good start, with no shortage of bees. Their
greatest concern was the potential impact of California's drought, although
this past weekend's rain did move the needle off empty.
Ag
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