Ag Today Wednesday, December 3, 2014

House Republicans, Costa join for last-ditch shot at California water bill [Fresno Bee]

House Republicans joined by Fresno Democrat Jim Costa late Tuesday started a last-ditch maneuver to pass California water legislation that is friendly to farmers and frightening to environmentalists. Acting fast in the dying days of a lame-duck Congress, the seven California lawmakers introduced a bill that consolidates some ideas they think could pass both the Senate and House. The 28-page bill is cast as a temporary measure, and it omits the water storage project authorizations and some other provisions that had made a previous House bill politically controversial….The bill introduced by Rep. David Valadao, R-Hanford, as the chief sponsor has the strong backing of House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy of Bakersfield and is effectively guaranteed to pass the Republican-controlled House sometime before the scheduled Dec. 11 congressional adjournment. The bill has the backing of Costa but is likely to be opposed by most other House Democrats.

http://www.fresnobee.com/2014/12/02/4266202_house-republicans-costa-join-for.html?sp=/99/217/&rh=1

Farmers welcomed rain throughout the day [KFSN TV, Fresno]

This week's storm came at a time the Department of Water Resources issued its initial state water allocation. The state has called for a 10% of normal delivery but that could change either way depending on the season. Steady rain throughout the day was a great sight for our dry state. Many were hoping it marked the start of a wet and snowy winter….Fresno County Farm Bureau CEO Ryan Jacobsen said, "Fresno County does not receive any state water but it's an early indication of what the federal project's going to be. Not that they're identical but it gives kind of the indication that things are improving slightly. But again, zero to ten it's not going to fix our worries."

http://abc30.com/weather/farmers-welcomed-rain-throughout-the-day/419673/

Want the facts on ag water use? Join the debate [Hanford Sentinel]

It seems like a simple, verifiable fact necessary to inform drought discussions: How much of California’s water supply goes to agriculture? Trying to answer that tidy little question leads straight into controversy….Ag-friendly groups like the California Farm Water Coalition use the department’s accounting to demonstrate that environmental uses are now receiving more developed water than agriculture (Once upon a time, it was the other way around). But many environmental groups and media reports routinely state that agriculture uses about 80 percent of California’s developed water supply. They count agriculture and urban/industrial as developed water, but leave out environmental water, arguing that it belonged to the natural ecosystem anyway.

http://hanfordsentinel.com/news/local/want-the-facts-on-ag-water-use-join-the-debate/article_1c09e6e6-e793-5bc4-9a06-b5ac746c49dd.html

Drought saps supply of Christmas trees in California [Los Angeles Times]

Scott Martin surveys his Christmas trees, inspecting their needles row by row for signs of stress….This season, customers of Martin's Living Christmas Co. won't be seeing as much of the classic Christmas pine, which requires more water than spruce varieties and is more likely to brown in the heat. Living Christmas cut more than 200 pine trees from its roster this season — a 40% reduction in its pine offerings since last year, Martin said….The company's drought-conscious move comes as Christmas tree growers struggle with the effects of the state's lack of rain…."This is one of the driest years that I have seen after 50 years in this business," said Larry Hyder, who runs Indian Rock Ranch, a Christmas tree farm near Sacramento….The drought is tough on individual farms, but consumers will be spared most of the effects this year, said Rick Dungey, spokesman for the National Christmas Tree Assn.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-christmas-tree-drought-20141203-story.html

UPDATE: California bans coyote hunts that offer prizes [Associated Press]

California wildlife officials on Wednesday banned coyote hunting contests that have sparked a culture clash by offering cash and other prizes to marksmen who killed the most animals….The vote by the state Fish and Game Commission allows hunters to shoot as many of the predators as they wish year-round but stops the awarding of prizes….Hunter and cattleman Buck Parks said he and his neighbors in rural Northern California won't turn a blind eye to coyotes killing livestock and wildlife. He said people opposed to coyote hunting don't witness the damage done by coyotes.

http://magicvalley.com/lifestyles/recreation/update-california-bans-coyote-hunts-that-offer-prizes/article_a6105af2-7aff-11e4-83de-97e12fd3951e.html

Annual grower meeting on rules, regs includes trade show, free lunch [Chico Enterprise-Record]

Butte County Farm Bureau and the county Agricultural Commissioner’s Office decided to spice up Grower Day this year by adding a trade show and free lunch. The annual event is important to farmers and pest control advisers who hear the latest on new regulations and other industry information….Colleen Cecil, Farm Bureau executive director, said the event seemed to be a hit. People had time to mingle and learn about new products, or catch up with friends….Normally, the early December event had a group of about 150, but she estimated the crowd at well over 300 Tuesday. People with a pesticide applicator license are required to attend informational sessions several times a year, said Agricultural Commissioner Richard Price. Attendees learn about most recent rules and trends for the future.

http://www.chicoer.com/general-news/20141202/annual-grower-meeting-on-rules-regs-includes-trade-show-free-lunch

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Ag Today Tuesday, December 2, 2014

State projects 10 percent of full water deliveries [Palm Springs Desert Sun]

State officials announced Monday that with the drought persisting, water agencies can expect only 10 percent of their full allotted amounts of water next year through the canals and pipelines of the State Water Project. The initial allocation set by the California Department of Water Resources was up from the 5 percent of full water deliveries that Southern California agencies received in 2014. Mark Cowin, the department’s director, said in a statement that projections in the extended forecast “give us hope that we will return this winter to normal or above-normal precipitation levels after three years of drought.”…The Department of Water Resources can revise its initial allocation depending on the weather in the coming months.

http://www.desertsun.com/story/news/environment/2014/12/01/california-water-drought/19766071/

Rain brings hopes, fears to drought-hit California [Associated Press]

A Pacific storm moved into drought-stricken California on Tuesday, bringing much-needed moisture but triggering traffic accidents and fears of mudflows on wildfire-scarred hillsides….Storm watches were issued for a large swath of the Sierra Nevada, where a huge amount of the state's water supply is normally stored as snowpack. Significant accumulations were predicted but not enough to be a drought buster….The back-to-back storms are helping some cities in northwest California reach normal rainfall amounts for the year, or even better, but the reservoirs and Sierra snowpack that provide much of the state's water remain far short of what they should be after three years of intense drought. The state Department of Water Resources reported the Sierra snowpack, which counts most for the state's water supply, was at 24 percent of normal for this time of year.

http://www.fresnobee.com/2014/12/02/4264769_dry-california-awaits-powerful.html?sp=/99/217/&rh=1

Thirsty for a lot more [Marysville Appeal-Democrat]

It's becoming a tired refrain, but it bears repeating: No, the recent rain storms do not mean the drought is over. In fact, those storms weren't even enough to bring the total amount of November precipitation to the historical average and barely affected the levels of local reservoirs….Camp Far West in Yuba County picked up only about 300 acre-feet of water from the weekend rain, said Brad Arnold, general manager of the South Sutter Water District. An acre foot is 326,000 gallons. Currently, the reservoir has only 6,000 acre feet of water— a mere 6 percent of its capacity of 93,000 acre-feet….It was a similar story at Collins Lake, which supplies water to Browns Valley Irrigation District customers. The lake level increased only a tenth of a foot.

http://www.appeal-democrat.com/news/thirsty-for-a-lot-more/article_c74a18b0-79f2-11e4-82d6-1b96e9092f59.html

Patterson, Vidak look to blunt cap-and-trade plan that likely will raise gas prices [Fresno Bee]

A controversial plan to lower greenhouse gases could raise the cost of gasoline in California — starting Jan. 1. The big question is how much….Fearing the worst, two central San Joaquin Valley Republican legislators on Monday introduced legislation that would kill the plan, which will add transportation fuels to the state’s cap-and-trade program. But in the Democratic-dominated state Legislature, the bills are given little chance of success. Even a more modest proposal earlier this year by Assembly Member Henry T. Perea, a Fresno Democrat, failed — and it had the support of 17 Democrats. Perea’s bill would have delayed by three years putting transportation fuels under the cap-and-trade program. Perea this year is trying again with a new bill to address the long-term effect that the gas tax will have.

http://www.fresnobee.com/2014/12/01/4264411/patterson-vidak-look-to-blunt.html?sp=/99/217/&ihp=1

Republicans try to balance immigration action while avoiding a shutdown [New York Times]

Congressional Republicans returning to Washington on Monday found themselves facing a treacherous 10 days as they try to balance their desire to fight President Obama’s executive action on immigration with the political imperative not to shut down the government. Congress must pass a broad spending bill before Dec. 11 to prevent a government shutdown. But Mr. Obama’s executive action last month, which could allow up to five million people now in the country illegally to live and work without threat of deportation, has inflamed Republicans and complicated their calculation over what

Ag Today Monday, December 1, 2014

California motorists to begin shouldering costs of carbon auction [Sacramento Bee]

…Starting Jan. 1, gas and diesel fuel will be subject to California’s cap-and-trade market, a 2-year-old regulatory mechanism that puts a price on carbon spewed into the atmosphere. The result will be higher gasoline and diesel prices, and probably more controversy for a state program that’s already been attacked in the courts by the business community….The increase is likely to be less than 10 cents a gallon, said Mary Nichols, chairwoman of the California Air Resources Board, which runs the carbon program….The Western States Petroleum Association, or WSPA, the leading industry trade group in California, has posted on its website a prediction that prices could rise 16 to 76 cents a gallon….A group organized by WSPA, the California Drivers Alliance, delivered petitions with 115,000 signatures to an Air Resources Board meeting in Southern California last month. The petitions demanded a halt to “the hidden gas tax,” as critics have labeled it.

http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/article4178511.html

Drought aftermath in Terra Bella: ‘We survived ... we’re hurting’ [Fresno Bee]

Citrus growers Brent Doyel and Geoffrey Galloway strolled between two vastly different orchards of mandarins — one vibrant, the other dead. “This is a pretty good view of what happened around Terra Bella this year in the drought,” said Doyel, 50, a second-generation farmer here. “We survived, but there’s no money being made. We’re hurting.” In the wake of the state’s third-worst drought on record, Doyel, Galloway and nearly 600 other growers in this Tulare County region sweated out an ugly, expensive summer, somehow dodging the worst of a bad situation….Loss of valuable tree acreage is ranging from 20% to 30%, which is far lower than initial estimates thanks to the last-minute purchases of some pricey water. Growers are praying for rain and hoping for federal lawmakers to make Northern California water easier to get.

http://www.fresnobee.com/2014/11/29/4258263_drought-aftermath-in-terra-bella.html?rh=1

Salinas Valley growers cut water use [Salinas Californian]

Farmers in the Salinas Valley have claimed for years that they take water conservation seriously by investing in new technologies that make irrigation more efficient and by working closely with universities to develop best water-saving irrigation practices. Their claims are now documented in a new report released this week by the U.S. Geologic Survey that shows irrigation water use has been cut from 746 million gallons per day in 2000 to 477 million gallons per day in 2010, representing a savings of 269 million gallon a day….Norm Groot, the executive director of the Monterey County Farm Bureau, has said even before the USGS report came out that Monterey county growers have made big strides during the past couple of decades in reducing the amount of water they use on crops….While farmers have been adopting new irrigation technologies to conserve water, they have also managed to increase yields two or three times over, Groot said.

http://www.thecalifornian.com/story/money/2014/11/28/salinas-valley-growers-cut-water-use/19632269/

Editorial: No room for waste in the California’s water bond [Sacramento Bee]

More than two-thirds of California voters authorized the state to borrow more than $7 billion to improve a water system strained by more than three years of drought. Now the difficult job of smartly targeting problems and effectively implementing projects is beginning….One of the challenges will be to direct funds to projects that are coordinated to have the greatest impact on some of the state’s most pressing needs. Yes, the list of needs is long and many problems won’t be completely addressed, but significant progress can be made on how California approaches its demand for water through treatment facilities, recycling, habitat restoration and storage….The most controversial and costly aspect of the bond is water storage. There are two distinct camps on how best to invest the $2.7 billion earmarked for storage….The California Water Commission, made up of nine members appointed by the governor, will decide which projects are the most cost-effective and provide the biggest improvement for the state’s water system….The commission should establish a thorough and transparent public process to evaluate proposed storage projects.

http://www.sacbee.com/opinion/editorials/article4168206.html

Opinion: Sen. Dianne Feinstein's drought relief bill needs closer scrutiny [Los Angeles Times]

No one is more adept at turning crises into opportunities than representatives of special interests in Washington. And there are few better opportunities-in-disguise than the California drought….That's why it's probably a good thing that Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) last week abandoned her effort to craft a drought relief bill in haste and through private conversations with Central Valley Republican members of Congress and lobbyists for well-heeled water users. Many of those parties live to overturn the federal Endangered Species Act and Clean Water Act, which they say deprive Central Valley growers of desperately needed water….The problem with trying to craft water solutions for California in Washington is that it can't be done without trampling court rulings and state laws and policies that apportion an increasingly scarce resource among increasingly demanding users.

http://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-1130-hiltzik-20141130-column.html#page=1

Editorial: Setting the table for better food policy [Sacramento Bee]

…Bit by bit, California is already laying the groundwork to bring more choice to more tables….The California Food Policy Council, a new statewide coalition of chefs, farmers, community organizers, health policy people and environmentalists, is now tracking votes and state legislation….It’s an ambitious grab bag of an agenda, and not all of it sounds appetizing….But in this, the season of prime leftovers, we salute them. Given California’s abundance of both farms and foodies, this seems a good a place as any to start considering food at a policy level. Small changes, properly cultivated, have a way of growing into big ones. Dig in.

http://www.sacbee.com/opinion/editorials/article4167937.html