Ag Today Wednesday, July 23, 2014

Property taxes could pay for $25 billion Delta tunnels without public vote [San Jose Mercury News]

Major water districts in California are quietly considering using property taxes -- and possibly raising them without a vote of the public -- to help fund Gov. Jerry Brown's $25 billion plan to build two massive tunnels through the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. Most property tax hikes require a two-thirds vote, as required under California's landmark Proposition 13, which voters passed in 1978. But the water agencies contend they are not bound by that requirement. They say they were given the authority to raise property taxes to pay for the State Water Project, a vast system of dams and canals, in both a 1959 law and a year later in a statewide ballot measure. And those predate Proposition 13….Until now, it had been assumed that water agencies supporting the tunnels project would be raising water rates to pay for the tunnels. As word has trickled out about the property tax strategy, anti-tax activists, environmental groups and even other water agencies are raising concerns.

http://www.mercurynews.com/science/ci_26198239/property-taxes-could-pay-25-billion-delta-tunnels

State, feds unveil Central Valley salmon restoration plans [Sacramento Bee]

State and federal wildlife agencies Tuesday unveiled ambitious plans to restore endangered salmon and steelhead fish in California’s Central Valley, including returning them to some habitats where they were shut out decades ago by dams and other development. Although the two plans differ somewhat, officials said they both aim to prevent extinction of three species: endangered Sacramento River winter-run Chinook salmon, threatened Central Valley spring-run Chinook salmon, and threatened Central Valley steelhead….The plan is required by the Endangered Species Act, but it does not impose any new restrictions on property owners, water users or businesses. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife simultaneously released an ecosystem restoration program, which is intended to guide Central Valley restoration activities for all species – not just salmon and steelhead – over the next 15 years.

http://www.sacbee.com/2014/07/22/6574107/state-feds-unveil-central-valley.html

Groundwater study sessions to continue for county supes [Visalia Times-Delta]

It was the county’s water experts educating the Tulare County supervisors Tuesday afternoon during a groundwater study session. From water commissioners to farmers, those who work closest with one of the county’s most precious resources, spoke to supervisors for about 90 minutes about how to best modify Tulare County ordinances related to groundwater. “We know we’re going to get substantial pressure to address groundwater issues in our county, quite frankly we do not have the expertise sitting on this dais as is sitting in the audience,” said Supervisor Allen Ishida…. Ishida said the county wants to avoid unintended consequences that happens when ordinances or laws are passed without really thinking them through. Items discussed were updates to the well ordinance to ensure water quality is protected, developing a “groundwater exportation” ordinance and proposing a plan to effectively manage groundwater supply and quality.

http://www.visaliatimesdelta.com/story/news/local/2014/07/22/groundwater-study-sessions-continue-county-supes/13029811/

Search for citrus psyllids starts in Fresno [Visalia Times-Delta]

The fight against the potential spread of a bacteria deadly to citrus trees has taken to the streets of the South Valley. But even though Asian citrus psyllids have been found in various parts of Tulare County, a team of seven California Department of Food and Agriculture employees has begun its search for the insects and infected trees in Fresno County — where no psyllids have been found….Yet so far, the CDFA teams have focused on checking properties in urban residential areas in Fresno County. On Tuesday, for example, they were knocking on doors in neighborhoods south of the Fresno Yosemite International Airport to east Church Avenue. When asked why the search is starting there, Steve Lyle, a CDFA spokesman, said the 153 square miles of neighborhoods that the team has focused on so far is considered a higher-risk area based on a risk-assessment model created by a U.S. Department of Agriculture researcher.

http://www.visaliatimesdelta.com/story/news/local/2014/07/22/search-citrus-psyllids-starts-fresno/13024391/

Planning Commission forwards North County solar project [Santa Maria Times]

The Santa Barbara County Planning Commission on Tuesday recommended a number of amendments to area policies to accommodate the proposed Cuyama Solar Project….The amendments would allow Cuyama Solar to develop up to 600 acres of utility-scale solar production in the rural areas of the Cuyama Valley using Agriculture II land, which is specified for agricultural use. To make room, four parcels would be rezoned. The 327 acres being purchased from Bolthouse Farms would also receive an overlay, allowing the proposed large-scale solar energy production….The commission also supported canceling a Williamson Act contract that currently reserves 1,529 acres in the Cuyama Valley specifically for agricultural purposes in exchange for large property tax rebates….“Bolthouse considers this project to be an agricultural support facility," said land use attorney Susan Petrovich, speaking for Bolthouse.

http://santamariatimes.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/planning-commission-forwards-north-county-solar-project/article_2bff98cc-301e-555f-b554-5de69c558925.html

Commentary: Count the votes at Gerawan [Fresno Bee]

Silvia Lopez is a farmworker who has been disenfranchised. She is being forced to join — and pay tribute to — an organization against her will…. And what had the UFW done for the workers to deserve their money? Nothing. So it's no surprise that Silvia does not want the union. She and her co-workers have received above-industry-average pay without the union's help.…The union doesn't care. It wants Silvia's money. And the ALRB wants to help its union buddies. First the board refused to allow a decertification election. Now an election has been held. But the board refuses to count the votes.

http://www.fresnobee.com/2014/07/22/4035877/matt-patterson-and-tal-cloud-count.html?sp=/99/274/

Ag Today is distributed by the CFBF Communications/News Division to county Farm Bureaus, CFBF directors and CFBF staff, for information purposes; stories may not be republished without permission. Some story links may require site registration. To be removed from this mailing list, reply to this message and please provide your name and e-mail address. For more information about Ag Today, contact 916-561-5550 or news@cfbf.com.

Ag Today Tuesday, July 22, 2014

California drought: Record heat gives some cantaloupe crops sunburn [Los Angeles Times]

The temperatures were so hot this year in Joe Del Bosque’s cantaloupe fields in the San Joaquin Valley that some of the melons could have used sunscreen. The surface of the fruit got sunburned, which looks bad and in some cases affects taste. He had to throw those away. The first six months of the year were the hottest ever in California, the National Weather Service said Monday. That’s nearly five degrees warmer than the 20th century average and more than a degree hotter than the record set in 1934….Across the state, the bone-dry and hot conditions have been contributing to a much larger number of fires….The fact that it’s also been dry for at least three years straight in much of the state has worsened an already difficult situation. The agricultural industry is facing $1 billion in lost revenue this year from the state’s worst drought in decades and might have to pay about $500 million for additional groundwater pumping.

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-california-drought-record-heat-sunburns-melon-crops-20140721-story.html

Editorial: Tactics for dealing with drought or just plodding through it? [Marysville Appeal-Democrat]

…It doesn't help to start panicking — it won't make the drought stop any sooner. But there really is reason to start examining our water practices — the only reason to do it in a panic is we waited too long. And the real danger in that is we start adopting one-size-fits-all policy and practice, instituting new regulations and fines and adjusting rates and questioning century-old practices. There might be districts where there isn't much of a water shortage, but they'll be affected about the same as everyone else in a state where the variables from one tip to the other are incredibly different….The only thing worse than the feeling of desperation you get from a drought is resorting to a stubborn, one-day-at-a-time strategy for plodding through it. We should be planning storage and conservation measures now ... that would be a good way to occupy ourselves until the drought is over.

http://www.appeal-democrat.com/opinion/our-view-tactics-for-dealing-with-drought-or-just-plodding/article_bccc5c62-115c-11e4-9054-0017a43b2370.html

Plans to raise dam already impacting some Lake Shasta businesses [Redding Record Searchlight]

More than 100 people filled the Lions Club in Lakehead Monday morning to voice concerns, get information and pose questions to Congressman Doug LaMalfa about a proposal that would raise Shasta Dam as much as 18.5 feet. The addition to the dam would increase the capacity of the 4.5 million acre-foot reservoir by about 13 percent, a move proponents say is necessary amid California’s ongoing water woes. But it would also raise the lake’s level and displace dozens of local residents and businesses. Those concerns were the focus of Monday’s meeting. LaMalfa, R-Roseville, assured folks he would only support the dam raising project if locals affected were justly compensated and given the opportunity to relocate in the area….LaMalfa said water was just too big an issue in California not to look at all available options, including raising the dam. He said his role would be to fight for those affected to ensure they were appropriately compensated and treated fairly in the deal.

http://www.redding.com/shaping-our-future/plans-to-raise-dam-already-impacting-some-lake-shasta-businesses_89890550

Climate scientists have a beef with beef [Los Angeles Times]

If you want to slow climate change, white meat may be the right meat, according to two studies that tally the environmental effect of the beef industry. Raising cattle in the U.S. requires 28 times as much land and 11 times as much irrigation water, and pumps at least five times as much planet-warming gases into Earth's atmosphere than producing the equivalent calories of dairy products, poultry, pork or eggs, according to a study published online Monday in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. And from 1961 to 2010, worldwide emissions of planet-warming gases from livestock increased 51%, with the bulk of the increases coming from developing nations that are rapidly adopting the U.S. model of meat consumption, according to another study published Monday in the journal Climatic Change.…The beef industry, not surprisingly, is not impressed. "The PNAS study represents a gross over-simplification of the complex systems that make up the beef value chain, a point which the authors acknowledge," Kim Stackhouse-Lawson, director of sustainability research for the National Cattlemen's Beef Assn., said in a statement. "The fact is the U.S. beef industry produces beef with lower greenhouse gas emissions than any other country."

http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-climate-scientists-beef-20140721-story.html

Cash crops with dividends: Financiers transforming strawberries into securities [New York Times]

His boots were caked with mud when Thomas S. T. Gimbel, a longtime hedge fund executive, slipped in a strawberry patch. It was the plumpness of a strawberry that had distracted him. Mr. Gimbel, who once headed the hedge fund division of Credit Suisse, now spends more time discussing crop yields than stock or bond yields. He is the man on the ground for a group of investors — including New York’s biggest real estate dynasty, two Florida sugar barons and the founder of a multibillion-dollar investment firm — who have been buying up farms across the United States through a real estate investment trust called the American Farmland Company. Hedge funds are not new to farmland….But in the latest twist, a small but growing group of sophisticated investors and bankers are combining crops and the soil they grow in into an asset class that ordinary investors can buy a piece of.

http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2014/07/21/cash-crops-with-dividends-financiers-transforming-strawberries-into-securities/?_php=true&_type=blogs&module=Search&mabReward=relbias%3Ar%2C%7B%221%22%3A%22RI%3A6%22%7D&_r=0

Some food companies are quietly dumping GMO ingredients [NPR]

…The news that Ben & Jerry's is taking a vocal stand on a controversial issue is no surprise; it's part of the company's calling card. But some other mainstream companies are carefully — and much more quietly — calibrating their non-GMO strategies. General Mills' original plain Cheerios are now GMO-free, but the only announcement was in a company blog post in January. And you won't see any label on the box highlighting the change. Grape Nuts, another cereal aisle staple, made by Post, is also non-GMO. And Target has about 80 of its own brand items certified GMO-free….Nathan Hendricks, an agricultural economist at Kansas State University, says big food producers are trying to gauge what direction consumers are headed in….But even as they create GMO-free products, many of these corporations are fighting state initiatives that would require them to give consumers more information about their ingredients.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2014/07/22/333725880/some-food-producers-are-quietly-dumping-gmo-ingredients

Ag Today is distributed by the CFBF Communications/News Division to county Farm Bureaus, CFBF directors and CFBF staff, for information purposes; stories may not be republished without permission. Some story links may require site registration. To be removed from this mailing list, reply to this message and please provide your name and e-mail address. For more information about Ag Today, contact 916-561-5550 or news@cfbf.com.

Ag Today Monday, July 21, 2014

California drought: High-bidding farmers battle in water auctions [San Jose Mercury News]

One of the worst droughts in state history is pushing water prices to record levels -- fraying nerves, eroding bank accounts and stress-testing the state's "water market," an informal and largely hidden network of buyers and sellers. Water is essential to life. But it's also a commodity, like oil or gold, and its prices swing in response to supply and demand, geography and decisions out of Sacramento. Market-driven "water trading" is helpful in a drought, say experts, because it is an agile way to move water from the haves to have-nots, and from lower-value to high-value uses. For those with water, it may be more profitable to sell it than grow crops; in fact, it may be their only way of paying their bills….But the contentious water market can pit neighbor against neighbor, favoring those with the oldest rights to water, the most underground water or the deepest pockets.

http://www.mercurynews.com/News/ci_26181042/California-drought:-Highbidding-farmers-battle-in-water-auctions

Stanislaus County irrigation districts pumping record amounts of groundwater [Modesto Bee]

Despite widespread concerns about declining groundwater levels, some Stanislaus County irrigation districts have dramatically increased well pumping this year. Modesto Irrigation District wells pumped 311 percent more groundwater this January through June than they did during the same months last year….The Oakdale Irrigation District’s wells also are being pumped at what appears to be a record-breaking pace…. Increased agricultural pumping is part of a statewide trend to help farmers cope with the drought by substituting groundwater for reduced rainfall and the subsequent declines in stored water supplies….There’s a serious downside to pumping all that groundwater: Underground water tables are dropping and increasing numbers of shallow domestic wells are going dry.

http://www.modbee.com/2014/07/19/3447495/stanislaus-county-irrigation-districts.html

Commentary: Coalition forms to manage California's groundwater [Los Angeles Times]

So let me get this straight: The state government is telling us we can't hose down the driveway and should feel guilty about watering the lawn. But it's OK for somebody to pump all the groundwater he wants? The policy-makers are padlocking flush toilets and shutting off showers at some state parks. But they're too lazy or cowardly to regulate people's wells?...Pavley and Dickinson are sponsoring separate bills that would essentially do the same thing: Command local governments to manage groundwater so it becomes sustainable. And if they don't, the state could step in and regulate. The senator tried something like this five years ago when legislators adopted a broad water package that contained an $11-billion bond — since shelved because voters undoubtedly would have been repulsed by the pork stench — and a plumbing makeover for the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. But the groundwater regulation was blocked by interests objecting to bureaucrats messing with folks' wells.

http://www.latimes.com/local/politics/la-me-cap-ground-water-20140721-column.html

Editorial: Spending on the Delta a sticking point in the water bond [Sacramento Bee]

If Gov. Jerry Brown and lawmakers want voters to weigh in this year on a multibillion-dollar water bond – a big if – they will need to compromise on what may seem like an arcane point: Who controls the money earmarked for the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta?...The size of the bond might be relatively easy to settle, assuming legislators can limit their wish list. Perhaps more complicated would be how to spend whatever money is earmarked to aid the Delta ecosystem. The reason has to do with Brown’s proposal to build twin 35-mile-long, 40-foot-diameter tunnels, even though none of the bond money would directly be used to pay for the water diversions. All sides in the discussion claim they want the bond to be “tunnel neutral.” But what that means depends on who is using the term.

http://www.sacbee.com/2014/07/21/6566904/editorial-spending-on-the-delta.html

Cap-and-trade could aid preservation of California farmland [Sacramento Bee]

…More money of the type Port tapped into will soon be available, per an obscure section of this year’s budget agreement that will offer millions to protect California farmland from the forces of urbanization….Also tucked into the legislation are directions to set aside agricultural land on the periphery of cities. It is meant to shield farmland from urban development, allocating a new source of money for a decades-old concept. Proponents believe the idea meshes with a broader vision for urban planning: a California where more people live in compact urban centers, commuting without relying on cars that percolate greenhouse gases into the air….Compared to transit and housing, farmland preservation will draw a small amount of funding…. But if the overall revenue from auctions of carbon permits grows, so too could that annual outlay.

http://www.sacbee.com/2014/07/19/6568511/cap-and-trade-could-aid-preservation.html

Influx of young women changes the face of California farming [Sacramento Bee]

…The 2012 USDA census found that the number of new farmers between the ages of 25 and 34 had grown 11 percent since the previous census was taken in 2007. The number of women farming in California has steadily increased over the past three decades. The 1978 USDA census counted 6,202 women who listed farming as their main occupation. By 2012, there were 13,984. These new farmers are embracing different delivery methods that don’t involve bulk commodity sales to food processing companies. They’re peddling produce directly to consumers through farmers’ markets, farm stands and subscriptions for produce boxes. Those sales methods increased 8 percent from 2007.

http://www.sacbee.com/2014/07/20/6568679/influx-of-young-women-changes.html

Ag Today is distributed by the CFBF Communications/News Division to county Farm Bureaus, CFBF directors and CFBF staff, for information purposes; stories may not be republished without permission. Some story links may require site registration. To be removed from this mailing list, reply to this message and please provide your name and e-mail address. For more information about Ag Today, contact 916-561-5550 or news@cfbf.com.