Almond
growers struggle to cope with drought [Modesto Bee]
California’s
almond growers are coping with the drought by drilling more wells, pumping more
groundwater, pulling out orchards and delaying new plantings, a just-released
survey shows. The California Department of Food and Agriculture study released
Thursday found many farmers fear for the health of their trees and expect their
nut harvests will suffer this year because of salt damage. The increased use of
groundwater is the culprit. That’s because water pumped from aquifers is higher
in salinity than surface water from rivers, canals and Sierra snowmelt….Because
rain and surface water supplies have been scarce throughout California this
year, most almond growers have turned to groundwater to irrigate their
orchards. According to survey results, about two-thirds of the state’s almond
orchards will rely entirely on groundwater pumping this year.
No
new water wells? [Manteca Bulletin]
…San
Joaquin County water experts are warning that three measures that passed the
California Legislature in a last minute rush that are before Governor Brown for
signing have language that will set the stage to further crippling water
supplies for cities, farmers, and rural residents. In essence, it may stop all
new residential development that needs well water and freeze the ability to
turn idle farmland into productive crops. The votes last week for three
companion groundwater management bills — Assembly Bill 1739 and Senate
Bills 1168 and 1319 — did not garner a single valley legislator’s vote from
either party. It has been widely condemned in the valley as a knee jerk
reaction to the serious issue of groundwater depletion….The pitfalls were
outlined by Julianne Phillips, the San Joaquin County Farm Bureau’s water
expert, during a presentation Thursday before the Manteca Rotary Club meeting
at the Manteca Unified district office campus.
Food
donation aims to call attention to drought [Monterey Herald]
Some
of the hardest hit victims of California's drought are food banks. Water
shortages mean fewer crops, more unemployment and higher food costs. To raise
awareness of the drought, a group of Fresno County growers, shippers and other
ag-related industries Thursday loaded 15 tractor-trailers with fresh produce
and donated it to California food banks….
The
group California Water Feeds Our Communities was the official sponsor of
Thursday's event. It includes growers who give produce annually to Central
Valley food banks. "The drought has impacted California's food banks
because they can no longer adapt to the spike in food prices that result from a
lack of water for farmers," said Cannon Michael, president of Bowles
Farming Co. Inc. "This campaign has been launched to feed the needy and
raise awareness about how the drought hurts the most vulnerable people in the
state."
Wildlife
groups sue feds over Rim fire logging [Associated Press]
Environmentalists
filed a lawsuit Thursday against a federal agency, saying it aims to protect
the California spotted owl living in the burned forests marked for logging
after the third-largest wildfire in state history. The Center for Biological
Diversity and two other groups seek an injunction against the U.S. Forest
Service, which unveiled a plan last week to allow logging on 52 square miles of
forest killed in the massive central California blaze….Forest Service officials
have defended the plan, saying it strikes a balance between logging and
wildlife, including the spotted owl….Mike Albrecht, co-owner of the logging
firm Sierra Resources Management, said he expected the lawsuit but was
nonetheless disappointed. He estimates the timber in the designated area is
valued between $5 million and $8 million, and the logging could generate up to
1,800 jobs for two years.
Fires
consuming funds [Marysville Appeal-Democrat]
An
active wildfire season fueled by the drought is burning through the coffers of
state and federal agencies that combat the blazes, while a federal bill that
would create an emergency fund for suppression efforts has stalled. The U.S.
Department of Agriculture, which handles about 85 percent of fire suppression
efforts through the U.S. Forest Service, expects it will run out of suppression
funds before the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30, according to Congressman
John Garamendi, D-Fairfield….In the U.S. Forest Service's Pacific Southwest
region, which covers 20 million acres of National Forest in California, $229
million has been spent fighting 1,189 fires that have burned about 243,000
acres. The amount of acres burned is close to the five-year average, but the
amount of wildfires this year is above average, said Stanton Florea, spokesman
for the region….
Study:
Produce safe from pesticide residue [Salinas Californian]
Stop
worrying about the miniscule amounts, if any, of pesticide residue on produce
and focus instead on eating more healthy fruits and vegetables. That’s the
message behind a new study released this week by state regulators charged with
ensuring the public is safe when it comes to levels of agricultural toxins in
our food supply. The California Department of Pesticide Regulation’s report
issued Tuesday concludes that California-grown produce “had little or no
detectable pesticide residues and posed no health risk to the public.”…In a
statement issued to The Californian Thursday, the DPR indicated that over the
past three years, the commodities that have been found to have tolerances above
the legal tolerance limits are spinach from the United States, snow peas from
Guatemala, tomatillos from Mexico and ginger from China.
Ag
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