California restricts yard watering as drought persists [Sacramento Bee]
California
regulators on Tuesday ordered every water agency in the state to restrict how
often customers can water their landscaping, an unprecedented move that marks
another milestone in the severe and ongoing drought. The decision was adopted
unanimously by the State Water Resources Control Board and will take effect in
about 45 days. Officials at the water board said it is the first time any state
in the nation has imposed an emergency water conservation requirement on every
local water agency within its borders….At the same meeting, state and federal
water officials reported that the Sierra Nevada snowpack – source of about 60
percent of the state’s fresh water – was 12 percent of average as of Tuesday.
In the approximately 100 years the state has been recording snowpack across the
range, that marks a historic low for this time of year.
Overpumping
of Central Valley groundwater creating a crisis, experts say [Los Angeles
Times]
A
simple instrument with a weight and a pulley confirmed what hydrologist
Michelle Sneed had suspected after seeing more and more dirt vanish from the
base of her equipment each time she returned to her research site last summer.
The tawny San Joaquin Valley earth was sinking a half-inch each month. The
reason was no mystery. “There are wells up and down this road,” Sneed said,
nodding toward a two-lane byway that cut across the flat agricultural
landscape. Parts of the San Joaquin Valley are deflating like a tire with a
slow leak as growers pull more and more water from the ground. The land
subsidence is cracking irrigation canals, buckling roads and permanently
depleting storage space in the vast aquifer that underlies California's
heartland.
Merced
County adopts groundwater ordinance to regulate new wells [Merced Sun-Star]
Nobody
was jumping for joy Tuesday as the Board of Supervisors unanimously adopted
Merced County’s groundwater ordinance, which is intended to regulate new wells.
The supervisors spoke somberly about the state’s water problems, while some
farmers said the regulations are a necessary evil. Still other farmers said the
regulations do not go far enough to help California’s dire water shortage as
the state endures the fourth year of a drought. The new ordinance is the first
of its kind for Merced County. It regulates groundwater transfers outside
county basins through a permitting process, allowing county officials to
scrutinize each project to determine potential impacts on groundwater
resources. It also requires people who want to build a new well, those who want
to export water from existing wells or those who want to increase pumping
activities to apply for a permit.
Locals
embrace spirit of National Ag Day [Imperial Valley Press]
Whenever
Alex Jack thinks of the hardships that pioneering farming families had to
endure in order to stay in business in the Valley’s bygone days, he is left
with a sense of awe and inspiration. Such reveries are common throughout the
year, Jack said, but more so on National Ag Day, which aims to highlight the
contributions of the nation’s agricultural community. “I’m mostly thankful on
National Ag Day for all the forefathers that opened up all the inroads we have
in agriculture,” said Jack, of Brawley-based Jack Bros. Farms….Locally, ongoing
efforts such as the Farm Smart Program help to raise awareness and provide a
hands-on learning experience for many of the Valley’s young students and winter
visitors, said Linsey Dale, Imperial County Farm Bureau executive director.
Opinion: Not all industrial
food is evil [New York Times]
I’VE
long wondered how producing a decent ingredient, one that you can buy in any
supermarket, really happens. Take canned tomatoes,…So, fearing the worst —
because we all “know” that organic farming is “good” and industrial farming is
“bad” — I headed to the Sacramento Valley in California to see a big tomato
operation. I began by touring Bruce Rominger’s farm in Winters….IT’S far from
paradise, but it isn’t hell either. The basic question is this: Are the
processes and products healthy, fair, green and affordable? Workers in the fields
have shade, water and breaks; they’re not being paid by the piece. Workers in
the plants are not getting rich but they’re doing better than they would
working in the fields, or in a fast-food joint.
Rominger
is managing his fields conscientiously and, by today’s standards,
progressively. He’s also juggling an almost unimaginable array of standards set
by the state, by P.C.P. and other processors, and even by his customers, who
may say things like, “What are you doing about nitrate runoff?” The canner
P.C.P. is running what appear to be safe and clean production lines while
producing close-to-“natural” tomato products that nearly anyone can afford.
Opinion: More info for
consumers can backfire [USA Today]
In
the same month the U.S. Department of Agriculture approved a new breed of apple
genetically modified to resist browning, yet another proposal to require the
labeling of genetically modified foods (GMOs) hit Congress. Federal regulators
chose to follow scientific evidence, which demonstrates that genetically
modified organisms are generally safe to eat. Yet, congressmen are still
pandering to irrational fears of GMOs, following similar labeling requirements
already adopted in several states. That pandering can actually leave consumers
worse off -- leading them to make less healthy decisions for themselves and
their families….Numerous studies by behavioral scientists research cognitive
biases and find that providing people with more information leads them to make
less accurateevaluations or less beneficial choices. Some studies reveal that
giving people additional irrelevant information not only decreases their
ability to accurately process information but also increases their confidence
in the accuracy of their choices….That brings us back to GMOs. Labeling
proponents argue that, even if there's no evidence of GMOs posing any health
risk, there's no harm in disclosing this information. Yet, as the research
shows, disclosures can, in fact, confuse consumers and lead them to make less
beneficial choices when they trigger consumer biases. Given that so many
consumers believe that GMOs are harmful, their food choices may be driven by
irrational fears, and they may opt for more expensive GMO-free foods. Consequently,
the disclosure would actually lead consumers to pay more for food while not
making them any safer.
Ag
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