UC Davis, strawberry growers settle big lawsuit [Sacramento Bee]
…UC
Davis and California’s strawberry growers announced they have settled a pair of
potentially poisonous lawsuits over a long-standing research partnership that
has earned millions for the university and brought vast improvements in taste
and durability to consumers. Key to the settlement: UC Davis announced the
hiring of a new director of strawberry breeding, ensuring the program will
continue churning out additional varieties of the fruit for years to come. The
agreement patches up a relationship that has helped California’s $2
billion-a-year strawberry industry flourish. California produces 90 percent of
the nation’s strawberries. Varieties bred by UC Davis researchers and licensed
to the industry account for about half the state’s crop.
Will
DNA-infused spray someday replace the bar code? [Mercury News]
What
if you could use your smartphone to tell if the apple you're about to bite into
has been genetically modified, if your bottle of extra-virgin olive oil was
watered down with an inferior product, or if the Armani suit you purchased is
genuine or a knockoff? You might someday, with the help of an odorless,
tasteless, DNA-infused spray that can trace food and other objects back to
their origins like an invisible, uncounterfeitable bar code….The material can
be sprayed on produce such as apples, oranges, spinach or eggs, either at the
farm or along the food supply chain, creating a biological marker containing
information such as where it was farmed, the date it was picked and where it
was processed, in a way that can't be removed, altered or reproduced. In
essence, the DNA mixture would be "printed" on the produce, which is
then mapped to a database.
In
wake of port negotiations, ag groups warn of permanent economic damage
[Sacramento Business Journal]
As
a labor dispute continues to entangle international trade across 29 West Coast
ports, agricultural producers across the Central Valley are warning of economic
damage they fear could take years to recover. Contract negotiations between
shippers and unionized port workers have now dragged on for nine months. But
disruption from a slowdown in work reached critical levels this month. Now
California's importers and exporters are calling on the Pacific Maritime
Association and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union to resolve the
conflict….In an open letter to the Pacific Maritime Association and
International Longshoreman and Warehouse Union, producers of grains, nuts and
other California food products expressed "deep disappointment" in the
labor dispute and warned that "a foreign customer can be difficult to
recapture." "Inevitably, these overseas customers will look to other
sources for their supply of these goods," wrote the letter's authors,
which included the California Farm Bureau Federation.
County
supervisors to discuss possible moratorium prohibiting solar projects on
agricultural land [Imperial Valley Press]
A
possible moratorium that would temporarily prohibit large-scale solar projects
on agricultural land is scheduled to be discussed Tuesday morning by the
Imperial County Board of Supervisors. Last week, the county approved what is
expected to be the last solar project of this year. The Iris Cluster Solar Farm
Project will consist of four sites west of Calexico: Iris Solar Farm, Rockwood Solar
Farm, Ferrell Solar Farm and Lyons Solar Farm….The status of solar projects in
the unincorporated county areas includes about 9,210 acres built or under
construction and about an additional 9,932 acres that have been entitled but
for which no construction permits have been pulled.
Research
center aims to improve grazing practices [Marysville Appeal-Democrat]
As
far as research centers go, this one is unique. At the UC Sierra Foothill
Research and Extension Center, pastures are now called "living
landscapes." The act of grazing has slowly shifted from its reputation as
a detriment to the ecosystem to a tool that can bolster ecological values —
water quality, wildlife habitat, carbon storage — that have risen to prominence
in modern society, said director Jeremy James….There's a project that measures
the amount of carbon released and stored by pasture land and how rainfall
affects carbon sequestration. The long-term goal of that project is to frame
how ranchers could participate in carbon cap-and-trade programs and add another
revenue stream to their operations, James said. The center is also developing
and testing a vaccine for foothill abortion disease, a bacteria transmitted by
a tick bite that causes a heifer to abort its first fetus….The center is
experimenting to see how riparian vegetation and pasture grasses filter and
clean the irrigation water that flows over the pasture before returning to a
stream.
Top
federal ag official to discuss pending trade deals at Tulare’s World Ag Expo
[Fresno Bee]
The
World Ag Expo in Tulare opens its three-day run Tuesday. The trade show is the
largest of its kind in the world and features the latest in farm equipment and
technology. This year 1,501 exhibitors will be at the show and an estimated
100,000 visitors are expected to attend….A top federal agriculture official
will be at the World Ag Expo Tuesday to encourage support for two proposed
trade agreements that could expand markets for Valley farmers. Phil Karsting,
administrator of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agricultural
Service, will provide expo visitors with an update on two trade proposals that
involve lowering tariffs and getting rid of other barriers to open new markets.
The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) involves Asian countries including Japan
and Vietnam, while European countries are part of the Transatlantic Trade and
Investment Partnership (TTIP). The agreements must be approved by Congress.
Ag
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