High speed rail board considers farmland in Fresno County [Fresno Bee]
More
than 70 parcels of Fresno County farmland now under Williamson Act agricultural
preservation contracts will be addressed Tuesday by the California High-Speed
Rail Authority.
The
rail board, meeting in Palmdale, is expected to certify that the pieces of
property -- which are along the approved right of way within the county of the
state's proposed bullet-train line -- are necessary for the railroad route and
were not selected just because of lower property values….Because the high-speed
rail authority proposes to acquire at least a portion of 71 parcels in Fresno
County that are under Williamson Act contracts, the agency is required to
notify the state Department of Conservation and make those certifications.
Moratorium
on new wells? Glenn County Supervisor broaches the subject [Chico Enterprise
Record]
Drought-troubled
Glenn County should take the lead on local groundwater management, Supervisor
Leigh McDaniel has said. He's asking other supervisors to consider new rules
before the 2015 irrigation season, including a moratorium on new well permits
for areas in Stage II and Stage III groundwater alerts until a groundwater
management plan is put into place. Already this year, the county has issued
more well permits than it ever has in history, county officials said during the
most recent Drought Task Force meeting….Part of the equation includes new rules
coming from the state to have locals management groundwater, with the State
Water Resources Control Board prepared to step in if local management doesn't
work.
Editorial: Conservationists
and farmers can work together [Marysville Appeal-Democrat]
Conservationists
and farmers can help each other out, it seems. A PROGRAM unfolding around this
region is helping rice farmers get their fields flooded and providing valuable
habitat for migratory birds. It wasn't the best of years for rice growers
(though it could have been much worse; and it might get that way)….At this time
of year, rice growers are looking to flood their fields for the winter. The
standing water through the off-season helps rice straw to decompose — it's good
for the system. Yet, water is scarce….With the drought having cut critical
wetlands to as little as one-sixth of normal, conservationists are instituting
a new program, dubbing it "pop-up" habitats. They're renting some
14,000 acres from rice farmers and flooding the fields, giving the birds places
to stop during their migrations of thousands of miles.
New
quarantine as citrus pest is detected [Bakersfield Californian]
Agriculture
officials are holding a community meeting Wednesday to educate the public about
a citrus quarantine and TREATMENT PROGRAM in the Pumpkin Center area after the
second detection of a dreaded agricultural pest in a year. The Asian citrus
psyllid is a winged, 1/8th-inch-long insect that resembles a moth. Some but not
all of the insects have a bacterial infection called huanglongbing disease that
is lethal to citrus trees. The most recent local capture of the psyllid was in
a small grove on Sept. 5 along Highway 119, close to Pumpkin Center near
Bakersfield. The pest was found in a grove of about 30 young trees at a private
residence. Neither that insect, nor another one spotted at a residence in Wasco
last year, was infected with huanglongbing disease.
Poultry
firms systematically feed low-dose antibiotics to flocks [Reuters]
Major
U.S. poultry firms are administering ANTIBIOTICS to their flocks far more
pervasively than regulators realize, posing a potential risk to human health.
Internal records examined by Reuters reveal that some of the nation’s largest
poultry producers routinely feed chickens an array of ANTIBIOTICS – not just
when sickness strikes, but as a standard practice over most of the birds’
lives. In every instance of ANTIBIOTIC use identified by Reuters, the doses
were at the low levels that scientists say are especially conducive to the
growth of so-called superbugs, bacteria that gain resistance to conventional
medicines used to treat people.
As
U.S. farm cycle turns, tractor makers may suffer longer than farmers [Reuters]
Farm
equipment makers insist the sales slump they face this year because of lower
crop prices and farm incomes will be short-lived. Yet there are signs the
downturn may last longer than tractor and harvester makers, including Deere
& Co, are letting on and the pain could persist long after corn, soybean
and wheat prices rebound. Farmers and analysts say the elimination of
government incentives to buy new equipment, a related overhang of used
tractors, and a reduced commitment to biofuels, all darken the outlook for the
sector beyond 2019 - the year the U.S. Department of Agriculture says farm
incomes will begin to rise again. Company executives are not so pessimistic.
Ag
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