California is poised to take over groundwater management if locals don't step up [Chico Enterprise-Record]
Message
to local water managers: pick up the pace on handling groundwater management,
or expect the state to do it for you. That's the word in a new state action
plan on Sustainable Groundwater Management,"…The state already has the
authority to manage groundwater basins, said Paul Gosselin, director of Butte
County's Department of Water and Resource Conservation. The report reiterates
that the state will step in if locals don't do the job….Recently the state
hired 10 new staff members to move ahead. "If that's where they are
leading, which is a big stick, it raises a lot of concerns," Gosselin
said.
Ventura
County drought means fewer acres planted as farm jobs dry up [Ventura County
Star]
During
this third year of drought, crops in Ventura County will go unplanted,
farmworkers will lose jobs, plants and trees will see more salt-related stress
and growers will begin following the available water out of the county and the
state. Those last-resort actions are the only options left for many growers in
key agricultural areas who are facing irrigation wells being shut off and
anticipated emergency mandates to cut water use as the industry struggles
through another year with little rain….Many growers of key crops —
strawberries, citrus, avocados, celery and other vegetables — say they will
have to fallow crops or plant less this year should Fox Canyon require a 20
percent cutback in water usage, as it has proposed. Votes on the action have
been postponed until April 11.
Smaller
groves evaporating due to high water costs [San Diego Union-Tribune]
The
rising cost of water is forcing small avocado growers all over North County to
give up on their groves….The big farmers — the ones with groves ranging from 40
to 800 acres — will survive as they keep investing in their businesses by
replanting for higher density and upgrading to more efficient irrigation
methods. But the small guys, the ones who have a few acres of older avocado
trees, are realizing that the cost of water combined with less fruit produced
by their aging trees makes it financially impossible to continue….Eric Larson,
executive director of the San Diego County Farm Bureau, said many of the small
groves in the county were planted in the 1970s. Their owners are getting older,
as are the trees. Old trees produce much less fruit than younger ones. “If
they’re not investing in the grove and reworking it and investing in
irrigation, it’s really difficult to turn a profit given the price of water,”
Larson said. “We continue to see those groves abandoned and folks turning the
water off on those groves.”
Opinion: Bungling drought
relief [Wall Street Journal]
Federal
and state regulators have at last heeded pleas by California farmers to
increase water exports from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Valley River Delta.
Alas, the regulatory relief is too little, too late….Finally, state and federal
water regulators on Tuesday announced that they would raise the rate of pumping
four-fold, thus increasing water exports by 7,000 to 10,000 acre-feet per day
over the next week to capture what is likely to be the last of this season's
heavy storm inflows. Alas, almost all of this additional water will go toward
building up the San Luis Reservoir to prepare for the inevitable future
shortages when pumping is again restricted to protect fish. Somewhere in this
tragic saga is a parable about how government imprudence in times of plenty
causes greater hardship in times of scarcity.
After
outcry, FDA to revise proposed rules on brewery grain as feed [Santa Rosa Press
Democrat]
The
Food and Drug Administration will redraft proposed rules for the use of brewery
waste as animal feed after both brewers and farmers complained the plan would
impose a burden on the centuries-old practice…. The FDA expects to have a new,
less burdensome version of the regulation ready this summer. The FDA is
considering requiring extensive handling processes and recordings for “spent
grains,” the barley, wheat and other grains left over after the brewer steeps
them in hot water to create the sugary liquid that will later become beer. Most
brewers sell or give the spent grains to farmers for use as feed for cows and
other livestock. Because the cost is far lower than other forms of feed,
ranchers say the grains are an important cornerstone of their business.
Editorial: An FDA success
story on antibiotics [Los Angeles Times]
…So
far, the results are much rosier. In just the last four months, 25 of the 26
pharmaceutical companies that make antibiotics that are important for human as
well as veterinary treatment have agreed to new drug labels prohibiting their
use for growth promotion in livestock….It's an extraordinary achievement for
the FDA, which had issued the voluntary rules in an attempt to avoid the years-long
delays involved in proposing new rules with teeth. But its work isn't done yet.
Agricultural antibiotics can still be prescribed for disease prevention, and
that's not a problem as long as it's done judiciously….The problem is that
rogue veterinarians could decide to make their living as prescription mills for
feedlots they've never even visited. At this point, the FDA needs some clear
rules for veterinarians, including a requirement that they visit the farms they
prescribe for at least occasionally.
Ag
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