Monday, January 12, 2015

Ag Today Monday, January 12, 2015


Supreme Court lets stand delta smelt protection, dealing blow to farmers [Fresno Bee]
The Supreme Court on Monday steered clear of a California whirlpool, letting stand a lower court's decision that upheld federal rules protecting delta smelt. The high court's decision not to hear the high-profile California water case disappoints farmers, who have been challenging the Fish and Wildlife Service over smelt protections and the larger question of water flow through the San Francisco Bay and Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. But the court's decision, issued without written explanation, is a big victory for Obama administration officials and environmental advocates who consider the tiny fish a key indicator of ecological health and an innocent victim, rather than instigator, of the state's water woes.

Court upholds California grape commission patents [Sacramento Bee]
A tangled legal fight over grape patents ended Friday in a victory for the California Table Grape Commission. Capping years of courtroom battling, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled the Fresno-based industry group has licensed valid patents for the Scarlet Royal and Autumn King grape varieties. The unanimous, 13-page decision by the three-judge panel turned on technical questions, including what date the grapes came into public use. The appellate court rejected arguments from challengers that the grapes were already being generally circulated well before the patents were applied for.

San Joaquin Valley farmers reach secret deal in water dispute [San Francisco Chronicle]
A staggering economic and environmental problem festering for three decades in the southern San Joaquin Valley would be addressed by a secret deal reached between the Obama administration and farmers — one that is sounding alarms for Bay Area lawmakers. The deal would retire 100,000 acres of farmland damaged by salt and selenium in the Westlands Water District, an arid, 600,000-acre patch of farms running along Interstate 5 from Mendota in Fresno County to the Kings County town of Kettleman City. About 600 farms there produce $1 billion in food each year. Congress agreed in 1960 to bring water to the area with the promise that the government would build a drain for the toxic brew that leaches from the mineral-rich soil. The drain was only partly built, due to opposition from the East Bay communities where the water was to be dumped. Instead, the drain stopped at a place called Kesterson, where federal officials turned the ponds into a national wildlife sanctuary. In 1983, drainage water contaminated by salt, boron and selenium caused an environmental catastrophe there, killing thousands of birds and fish and causing grisly deformities among chicks.

California farmers see potential in trade with Cuba [Fresno Bee]
As the push to lift the U.S. economic embargo against Cuba gains renewed attention, many San Joaquin Valley farm industries stand to benefit from easing trade restrictions with the communist country. Agriculture leaders and farmers say that while Cuba is a relatively small country in population (11.2 million people), it has a major appetite for imported food. Cuba imports about 80% of its food, with much of it coming from countries other than the United States. Experts say that Valley farmers — including those who are world leaders in producing raisins, grapes and tree nuts — are in a good position to take advantage of an open-door trade policy with Cuba.

Las Vegas casinos may be betting on high-speed rail [San Francisco Chronicle]
There may be some new big-bucks players when it comes to California’s high-speed rail line — Las Vegas casinos. It’s estimated that 18 million people a year hop on Interstate 15 from Southern California to Las Vegas. And while most eyes have been on California’s high-speed rail dream, Nevada has been moving ahead with its own $6 billion DesertXpress to link Vegas with the San Bernardino County town of Victorville. What it needs is a big infusion of federal loans. One idea being floated to make the project more attractive to the feds would be to extend the Vegas line across 60 miles of desert to Palmdale (Los Angeles County) and hook it to the high-speed rail link planned between Palmdale and Burbank.

Commodities fall as stockpiles mount up [Wall Street Journal]
Years of high commodity prices fueled a boom in investment around the globe by companies extracting resources—and by the many others, big and small, that depend on them. The ensuing slump has been devastating….Commodities markets from oil to coal to sugar took a beating last year, with many prices falling to multiyear lows. The turmoil has led to job cuts, mine closures and losses for investors….Huge levels of output helped drive commodity prices down, and many analysts believe they will stay low: Large stockpiles remain, and some producers are carrying on despite lower prices.

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 Friday, January 9, 2015


Boxer’s actions often angered Valley, but she's also recognized for doing good [Fresno Bee]
As a liberal Bay Area Democrat, Sen. Barbara Boxer wasn’t the most popular politician in the central San Joaquin Valley. Boxer — who on Thursday announced she wouldn’t seek re-election in 2016 — earned the ire of many in the region by supporting the controversial San Joaquin River restoration project and President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act. Republicans blame her for the failure late last year of negotiations on a compromise California water bill. They say she’s been more helpful to the state’s left-leaning coastal regions than its more conservative inland regions. To say Boxer has never helped the Valley, however, would be wrong. She stood up for Valley poultry ranchers and citrus farmers, for horses and mule packers operating in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Park wilderness areas, for keeping federal agencies — and their employees — in downtown Fresno and for the farm bill’s Market Access Program, which helps overseas promotions and advertising…Critics say much of Boxer’s shortcomings revolve around water.

U.S. dairies get crash course in exporting [Wall Street Journal]
Historically, America’s dairy processors have focused on their home markets, but many of them have retooled in the past decade, boosting output to help supply infant formula, cheese and other products to China and other countries with rapidly expanding middle classes….Now, with prices down sharply from the highs reached last year, the companies are getting a crash course in the risks of competing globally and working to improve their use of hedging and other risk-management tools. They’re also trying to tap other destinations, from Mexico to Malaysia, for their products. They have little choice: While prices in the U.S. are generally higher, demand has been anemic…. California Dairy Inc.’s response to the market volatility has involved building an internal risk-management group, which is trading more milk contracts on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange to help the company weather global price swings as it boosts exports, says Andrei Mikhalevsky, chief executive of the second-largest dairy cooperative in the U.S. California Dairy expects global milk prices to stabilize by late summer as global stockpiles dwindle.

Farming feels the chill: 2015 ag forecast looks beyond drought [Pacific Coast Business Times]
With frost advisories at the start of this year already keeping many tri­county growers on their toes, the agricultural community across the region is hoping for a rainier, greener year….While the exact level of damage has yet to be estimated, the hard freeze warnings are the first obstacle for tri­county growers in a year that could be a comeback for the industry, after the emergency drought of 2014 left behind a growing number of barren fields and slashes in production. Many say that higher rainfall numbers in the early months of this year could mean a major break for the industry….“The question right now is…are we seeing a break in the drought or is this just an early bit of rain and another super dry year?,” said John Krist, CEO of the Ventura County Farm Bureau…. Along with the uncertainty of future rainfall, another water issue growers are dealing with is the potential impact of the new statewide groundwater legislation. “There’s a lot of work to be done to decide who’s in charge of sustainability plans for all the individual groundwater basins,” Krist said. “It’s going to require [growers] to participate and pay attention to this.”

County considers increasing ag mitigation ratios for new developments [Davis Enterprise]
Consistent with the General Plan declaration that agriculture and open space are “the defining characteristics of Yolo County,” the Board of Supervisors released a study last month that investigates ramping up efforts to permanently preserve farmland….Currently, when developers convert farmland, they essentially have to purchase and relinquish development rights of an equal number of acres somewhere nearby….The study looks at six possible policy changes that could increase the ratio of acres developed to acres preserved….While the urban growth is both inevitable and important for the growth of the county, policies including mitigation would incentivize high-density projects developed close together, to reduce the impact of new construction. “Otherwise we just become like all the counties around us,” said Jeff Merwin, president of the Yolo County Farm Bureau….“We’re not going to become an urban county like Los Angeles overnight. But as time goes on, it’s nice to have a policy in place that enables us to at least do what we can while we are.”

Editorial: Creating a policy that works [Santa Maria Times]
Among the battles expected between a Republican Congress and Democrat president is immigration, specifically President Obama’s executive order on immigration….But while politicians duke it out in Washington, the nation’s farmers are dealing with what could be a very real problem — the loss of field workers, as a direct result of Obama’s de-facto immigration policy reform….The problems are not all on this side of the border….Coupled with Obama’s end run around Congress on immigration reform, those out-of-country factors should compel lawmakers to come up with a comprehensive, cooperative package of reform legislation, which of necessity should include a guest-worker program that would facilitate easy border crossing for those who want to do seasonal farm work in the United States. The question is — do our elected leaders have the common sense to do that?

Editorial: Faulty ruling on foie gras ban [Los Angeles Times]
More than a decade ago, in 2004, the California Legislature banned the production and sale in California of foie gras, which is created by the inhumane process of force-feeding ducks and geese to fatten their livers….But now a federal judge has sided with a group of foie gras producers, farmers and restaurateurs and enjoined enforcement of the portion of the regulation outlawing the sale of foie gras, finding that it violates a federal law governing the sale and distribution of poultry….California's foie gras ban, Judge Stephen V. Wilson said on Wednesday, violates the poultry act because a force-fed bird's liver is an "ingredient." Well, sure, an enlarged liver may be the main ingredient in foie gras. But how the liver got enlarged is the result of the bird's handling. And that, we believe, is something the state of California has the right to regulate….The attorney general should appeal this ruling and defend the state's right to enact humane laws.

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 Thursday, January 8, 2015


Immigration: Farmworkers may seek greener pastures [Riverside Press-Enterprise]
Every summer, Ben Drake scrambles to find enough workers to pick wine grapes in his fields outside Temecula. He worries that President Obama’s executive action on immigration, which will allow potentially millions of undocumented immigrants access to three-year work permits, could make it even more difficult.…Like other growers, Drake believes some of his migrant employees may abandon farm work for more stable employment….During Riverside County’s torrid growth in the early and mid-2000s, when seas of new homes seemingly went up overnight, many farmworkers left the fields for construction sites, said Steve Pastor, executive director of the Riverside County Farm Bureau. “During the boom years of construction, it was awfully hard to find workers,” he said. That was without a presidential executive action that allows many undocumented immigrants to legally work in the United States.

Farmers say new congress will be dealing with some old problems [KFSN TV/Fresno]
Valley farmers are eager to see the republican-controlled congress take on issues dealing with the California drought. Farmers say the new congress will be dealing with some old problems. They just hope the discussions over water begin sooner rather than later.…The Valley's top industry, agriculture, seeks a legislative fix to an on-going drought problem. Ryan Jacobsen with the Farm Bureau said, "Hands down number one water. Obviously looking for some kind of congressional solution this year to the Valley's water woes. We don't know if we're headed for a fourth year of drought but right now things don't look too good."

Advocacy group’s video of hens raises questions, but not just for farms [New York Times]
An animal rights group released Thursday a disturbing video of laying hens at a farm in Northern California that supplies eggs to Whole Foods and Organic Valley, among other retailers and distributors. The group, Direct Action Everywhere, contended that the hens’ treatment was inhumane and said it planned to protest this weekend at Whole Food stores in a number of American cities. The hens in the video belong to Petaluma Farms, whose owners assert that the group is distorting and exaggerating the conditions under which its organic and conventional eggs are raised and sold under the brands Judy’s Family Farm and Rock Island.…This latest dispute over the treatment of animals used in food production provides an example of how prevalent the use of graphic videos as a publicity tactic is becoming. (This week, the Humane Society unveiled its own “exposé” of conditions at a slaughtering facility in Minnesota.) But these videos can also be mystifying, if not misleading, for consumers paying attention to the varying certification standards of humane treatment available to producers and companies selling animal-based food.

Foie gras can go back on California menus, judge rules [Los Angeles Times]
Foie gras can go back on the menu. U.S. District Judge Stephen V. Wilson issued a ruling Wednesday overturning California’s law banning the sale of the fatty goose liver….Foie gras was outlawed in California by a bill that passed the state Legislature in 2004 and went into effect in 2012….The judge ruled that the law was unconstitutional because it interferes with an existing federal law that regulates poultry products. Last year, the courts rejected a different argument against the state ban -- that it improperly tried to regulate interstate commerce. But the new argument -- referred to by lawyers as “preemption” -- succeeded. The state could appeal Wilson’s ruling, but, for now, foie gras devotees can celebrate.

5 things to look for as govt writes new dietary advice [Associated Press]
You've heard it before: Eat fewer calories, more fruits and more vegetables. Those recurring themes as well as some new advice about sugar, salt, meat and caffeine could be part of the government's upcoming dietary guidelines for healthy eating.…A government advisory committee made up of medical and nutrition experts is set to issue preliminary recommendations this month. It indicated in draft recommendations circulated in December that it may suggest some changes in current dietary advice. The secretaries of the Agriculture and Health and Human Services Departments will take those recommendations into account as they craft the final 2015 guidelines, expected by the end of the year. Five things to watch for as the government begins writing the new guidelines:

2014 ag highlights: Miya, Medeiros set the standard [Hanford Sentinel]
If the purpose of an agriculture award is to highlight the best and brightest in the field, then the honors given out in 2014 to Hanford walnut farmer Michael Miya and Hanford dairy operator Brian Medeiros hit the mark….For his foresight, Medeiros received the Young Farmers and Ranchers Award from the California Farm Bureau Federation in December. The Lemoore Chamber of Commerce recognized Miya and his family as Agriculturalists of the Year in September. The farm bureau statement announcing the award for Medeiros noted his “efforts in production agriculture and leadership activity.” The emphasis is on the leadership. That’s also true for Miya, who plays all kinds of roles that go way beyond the mechanics of planting, growing and harvesting a crop. Miya is a field worker, grower, walnut marketer, real estate investor and a past president of the Kings County Farm Bureau — to name just a few of the hats he puts on.

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.