Environment: Court upholds Delta protections [Stockton Record]
Rules
protecting threatened salmon and steelhead were upheld Monday by an appeals
court, a decision that may help the fragile Delta but also may crimp a portion
of the state's water supply. The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Monday
determined that the rules, written by the National Marine Fisheries Service in
2009, are based on the "best scientific data available, even if that science
was not always perfect." A lower court had overturned the rules in 2010,
saying they were a product of "guesstimations" by scientists and that
the rules ignored "draconian" harm that reduced water deliveries
would cause for much of California.
Rain
helps outlook, but more is needed [Los Banos Enterprise]
It’s
a good start. That’s the attitude many whose livelihoods are connected to water
and the ag industry have about the recent wet weather. According to the Central
California Irrigation District, from Dec. 10 through Wednesday morning 0.43
inches of rain fell in Los Banos. So far this rainfall season, the city has
received 4.82 inches, which is more than was recorded for the entire 2013-2014
season….Last year water allocations were at historic lows as a result of the
dry weather. Amanda Carvajal, the executive director of the Merced County Farm
Bureau, said the key is how much of the water can be stored. “Storage is 7
percent on the east side and 32 percent on the West Side,” Carvajal said.
“We’re definitely thankful that it rained. We’re hopeful for El Niño.”
Hens
living larger as farmers rush to meet California
standards [Bloomberg News]
Located
within 300 miles of New York, Philadelphia and Washington, Sauder's Quality
Eggs in Pennsylvania is ideally situated to serve the more than 50 million
consumers in the U.S. Northeast. But some of the trucks that might have rolled
out of Sauder’s Lancaster County facilities toward Manhattan are now heading
thousands of miles west. “We’re getting lots of calls from California,” said
Paul Sauder, 64, the owner, wearing a white protective suit and speaking over
the din of 17,000 clucking brown hens while on a visit to a barn west of
Philadelphia. “Stores are worried they won’t be able to meet demand after Jan.
1.” That’s when a California law takes effect that requires eggs sold in the
nation’s most-populous state to come from farms meeting minimum living
standards sought by animal-welfare groups, chiefly more space in their cages.
Fighting
to preserve farmland [Marysville Appeal-Democrat]
Sib
Fedora stepped out of his truck onto 376 acres of farmland that will now stay
that way forever. He was going to talk about a conservation easement he's
worked on for six years….Agriculture here is both a livelihood and a lifestyle.
Listen to Fedora talk about his passion for both, and it becomes clear why he
spent all that time working to protect that heritage with the easement. It will
protect Fedora's property from any development. He has heard offers in the past
to purchase his land near the Sacramento River to construct an airstrip and RV
parking lot to support a recreational tourism business. It will also allow
Fedora to ward off what he sees as the scourge of the rural lifestyle — the
ranchette phenomenon, where developers buy tracts of land and divide them into
20-acre parcels that give urbanites with romantic notions of life in the country
a place to settle.
Editorial: Putting a lid on
methane from cattle [Los Angeles Times]
The
$1.1-trillion omnibus spending bill signed by President Obama contains many
giveaways to Wall Street, casinos and the coal industry. But the ones that
might do the most severe damage long-term have to do with, of all things, the
digestive systems of cattle….Yet the spending bill specifically barred the
federal government from requiring cattle operations to report greenhouse gas
emissions from manure or to obtain permits for methane produced by bovine
belching and flatulence. Both sources of methane are controllable; there is
machinery that can convert manure into biofuel, and changes in the diet of
cattle can make a major difference in flatulence levels….Uncertainty about the
precise effects of climate change is not an excuse for inaction when the
scientific consensus is clear. Congress shouldn't be handing short-term gifts
to the National Cattlemen's Beef Assn. at the risk of great environmental harm.
Editorial: Oyster farm closes
door on historic business [Marin Independent Journal]
The
closure of the Point Reyes oyster farm is a loss of an historic Marin business
— one that for many years was seen as a model for growing aquaculture in the
county….The park service bureaucracy's ham-handed approach to ending the lease fueled
the controversy and support for Lunny. Instead of imposing the deadline and not
renewing the lease, the park service spent time, money and energy building a
case against Lunny's operations. In a matter of months, the park went from
hailing the oyster farm as an example of sustainable agriculture to demanding
its closure because it was harming the environment….The closure of his company
ends a chapter in Marin's economic history, but perhaps we are writing new ones
about expanding Marin's aquaculture industry, the park rebuilding its frayed
relations with the community and the restoration of wildland that's open and
accessible.
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.
No comments:
Post a Comment