Port
slowdown creating 'devastating' impact on agriculture, logistics [Sacramento
Business Journal]
An
ongoing labor dispute embroiling ports across the West Coast has taken a bite
out of agricultural trade across California's Central Valley. Some in the food
and logistics industry fear a permanent loss of overseas business….California's
agricultural export business has been hit hard. Rice growers say shipments
amount to about 20 percent of the year's export crop have been delayed by up to
eight weeks. One concern, said a rice growers' trade group, is that overseas
importers may cut ties with California and begin importing from other countries
– creating a permanent loss for the Sacramento region and elsewhere…The
trucking industry also has been hurt. West Sacramento-based Devine Intermodal,
which handles cargoes for Farmer's Rice Cooperative, Blue Diamond Growers and
others, primarily to the Port of Oakland, plans to cut hours for 25 workers
beginning Friday..
State
undertakes more scrutiny on water users [Stockton Record]
Farmers
and other water users across the Central Valley soon will be required to share
more details about their water rights and how much they are diverting, as state
officials sort through allegations of illegal water use in this time of
scarcity. The State Water Resources Control Board issued an order late
Wednesday requiring water users who collectively have more than 1,000 senior
rights to provide more information starting in March….The board’s action was
spurred in part by a complaint filed last year by the state and federal
governments, alleging that Delta farmers were illegally diverting water that
had been stored in upstream reservoirs and had been intended for other portions
of California….Notably, however, the new order is not limited to the Delta. It
seeks information from many more diverters in the Sacramento and San Joaquin
river drainages.
Stanislaus
city, county, water officials tackle new groundwater law [Modesto Bee]
Local
officials agreed Thursday that carrying out California’s new groundwater law
will be a challenge, but it’s better than the alternative – letting the state
impose the rules….
Participants
said local control would ensure that specific water conditions are addressed
and the concerns of farmers, city dwellers and other interests are
heard….Stanislaus County contains all or part of four subbasins, bounded
generally by rivers. The state has 515 in all. A local entity can manage one or
more. The county’s effort is building on about 20 years of data collected by
the Modesto and Turlock irrigation districts and other parties. The districts
contend that flood irrigation, which critics regard as wasteful, has helped to
recharge groundwater. They warn that this benefit would be much less if the
state goes through with a proposal to increase rivers flows for fish at the
expense of farms.
Can
scientists engineer drought-tolerant plants? [Los Angeles Times]
As
the California drought enters its fourth year, scientists are trying to
genetically engineer plants that survive on less water. After adding a new
piece of genetic code to their DNA, tomatoes and other plants were able to hold
on to more water and survive for as many as 12 days without irrigation….It is
the first time that anyone has used synthetic biology to reprogram a plant
response to a specific chemical, Cutler said….Cutler said the work now needs to
be tested in real-world crops. His team will also investigate other beneficial
responses in plants that could be controlled chemically. Eventually, he hopes
these techniques can help address future water shortage issues.
Jump
in egg prices driven by new housing law for chickens [Ventura County Star]
…Across
California, consumers are seeing a spike in egg prices. Average wholesale
prices for eggs have risen by more than double, to $2.87 a dozen, compared with
the same time last year, according to data from the United States Department of
Agriculture. That, in turn, is more than double the cost of eggs in other parts
of the country. Retail prices are even higher. The reason for the price change?
It’s the new animal welfare standards for egg producers that took effect Jan.
1….The law so far has withstood several legal and political challenges….For
retailers, the rising price of eggs inevitably means passing the cost on to
consumers or losing money.
Lawmakers
aim to protect farm animals in U.S. research [New York Times]
Farm
animals used in federal experiments to help the meat industry would receive new
protections against mistreatment and neglect under legislation introduced on
Thursday by a bipartisan group of lawmakers from both houses of Congress. The
bill aims to extend the federal Animal Welfare Act to shield cows, pigs, sheep
and other animals used for agricultural research at federal facilities,
including the U.S. Meat Animal Research Center in Clay Center, Neb., a unit of
the Department of Agriculture. The act, which became law in 1966, excluded
those animals, focusing largely on cats and dogs used in laboratory research.
Sponsors of the new legislation, called the Aware Act, said they were prompted
by a Jan. 19 article in The New York Times that raised concerns about the
treatment of farm animals at the center, a 50-year-old institution that uses
breeding and surgical techniques to make the animals bigger, leaner, more
prolific and more profitable….Since the article was published, Tom Vilsack, the
secretary of agriculture, has ordered increased protections for farm animals
used in research at the center and other agency facilities.
Ag
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