Orchard removal business hot when water is scarce [KXTV, Sacramento]
G
and F Orchard Removal is one of those businesses that gets very busy when water
is scarce in the Central Valley. Growers choosing to save younger orchards will
have older orchards taken out when water restrictions are tight. "You can
see a lot of them have bud failure, no leaves, they're in stress mode. It takes
a toll on trees for future use as well," Stanislaus County walnut and
almond grower Paul Wenger said….Wenger is having 20 acres of walnut trees
removed later this week. Business at G and F Orchard Removal increases about 50
percent when water is limited.
Opinion: Jerry Brown now a
champion for farmers [Sacramento Bee]
It
was somewhat incongruous to watch Gov. Jerry Brown defend California’s farmers
and their water use on national television Sunday….What made Brown’s stout
defense of California farmers a little odd is that, as the old saying goes,
they have history – mostly of conflict. During his first stint as governor that
began four decades ago, Brown repeatedly clashed with the nation’s biggest
agricultural industry, first over farm labor policies and later over his
initial refusal to use pesticides against an invasion of Mediterranean fruit
flies and his plan to transport water around the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta
via a canal….He was something of a Hollywood hipster in the 1970s, but these
days he stresses his links to pioneer farmers in the upper Sacramento Valley,
often visits relatives in that area, plays host to family gatherings, and talks
about building a cabin on ancestral lands. He’s not exactly Farmer Brown, but
one might assume that those recent experiences have sensitized him to the
challenges of rural life.
Editorial: Consider changes to
management of water for farming? [Marysville Appeal-Democrat]
If
you're interested in making it look crazy — the amount of water agriculture
uses versus that used by urban areas — you're going to go with the 80/20
ratio….Do you want the same amount of water to be used for urban lawns and
swimming pools and endless housing developments as you want used for production
of the food all of us eat? When you think about it, the 80 percent/20 percent
split is more logical….Restrictions for agriculture? Sure. Start lining up the
talking points. There surely are reasonable additional conservation practices
that could be implemented. It's time for better data collection, perhaps more
aggressive groundwater control, maybe more local involvement in planning how
acres can be used between fields that can be fallowed in times of drought
versus orchards that can't be shut down so easily. But, again, we'd caution
critics to slow down and think it through. You can argue conservation should be
waged on all fronts, but that 80/20 ratio business ... it's only useful to show
how important agriculture is. We get the feeling some arguing for stricter
regulations on agriculture are really lobbying for a shift in the ratio. That
would be a mistake.
Farmers
back bill to subsidize biomass plants [Bakersfield Californian]
Local
farmers are adding their support to legislation that would divert revenue from
California’s cap-and-trade program to biomass plants that generate power by
burning agricultural and urban green waste. Last month the Kern County Farm
Bureau co-hosted a meeting in Delano to raise awareness of Assembly Bill 590
and help an industry the group called “very important” to local growers, in that
biomass plants take trimmings and old trees that would otherwise be more
expensive for farmers to dispose of. AB 590, co-authored by Assemblymen Rudy
Salas, D-Bakersfield, and Brian Dahle, R-Bieber, is making its way through the
state capitol at a time when California’s biomass industry says it is having a
hard time competing with cheaper sources of electrical power, including solar
panels and natural gas.
Democrats
push to extend health, legal rights to immigrants [Associated Press]
Responding
to federal inaction over immigration reform, California Democrats on Tuesday
will propose a package of 10 bills that would extend health care, legal rights
and business protection to immigrants who are illegally living in the state.
Assembly Speaker Toni Atkins, D-San Diego, and Senate President Pro Tem Kevin
de Leon, D-Los Angeles, will lead the majority party's push to expand health
coverage to all Californians, regardless of their immigration status, although
they are not proposing any funding to pay for the extensions….Another bill bans
businesses from discriminating against a person on the basis of their
immigration status, citizenship or language. Other bills seek to establish a
state agency to help newly arrived immigrants, protect immigrants from
unscrupulous employers and extend legal protections to avoid detention and
deportation, according to a written summary of the legislation. Democrats who
control the governor's office and both chambers of the Legislature have said
they want to find ways for immigrants to come out of the state's economic
shadows.
Silicon
Valley firms plant roots in farm belt [Wall Street Journal]
New
technologies that promise to change how food is grown, transported and sold are
attracting increased interest from the kinds of investors that have fueled
Silicon Valley powerhouses….The money involved in U.S. food startups is still
small compared with Internet companies. But venture-capital investment in
agriculture and food soared 54% to $486 million last year, according to Dow
Jones VentureSource….Driving the investments are a combination of cheap
wireless technology, improved tools for collecting data and monitoring crops, and
budding entrepreneurs looking to address new market demands and feed a growing
global population. Increasingly health-conscious consumers also are
scrutinizing what is in their food, pushing vendors to boost the transparency
of their supply chains.
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