Pick Justice Action Launches Sweepstakes with $5,000 Prize

Pick Justice Action Launches Sweepstakes with $5,000 Prize

Today, Pick Justice Action, an organization of concerned citizens who support the rights of farm workers, launched a sweepstakes to highlight the anti-farm worker record of Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez-Fletcher. Participants will have the opportunity to answer questions about how Gonzalez-Fletcher failed immigrant farm workers at truthaboutlorena.com and, if they get every question right, will be entered into the running for a chance to win $5,000.

“The people of California, particularly farm workers across the state, have a right to know about the anti-farm worker votes that Gonzalez-Fletcher has taken,” said Pick Justice Spokesperson Jesse Rojas. “Despite her rhetoric, she has constantly stood against farm workers, and instead favored big labor union bosses. This sweepstakes is another way Pick Justice Action is aggressively informing the hard-working people of our state about the real record of Gonzalez-Fletcher.”

The entry period of the sweepstakes is open until February 27th. Learn more about the sweepstakes and eligibility requirements at https://www.truthaboutlorena.com/.

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Sponsored by Pick Justice Action, a 501(c)(4) social welfare nonprofit organization with the mission of educating the public about the rights and interests of farm workers and general laborers, and to promote policies that protect these rights.
2020-01-30T10:57:51-08:00January 30th, 2020|

Improving Winegrape Quality Will Improve Prices For Growers

Improving Central SJV Winegrape Quality

By Tim Hammerich with the Ag Information Network

Frank Saviez has been growing  quality winegrapes in the Central Valley for more than 40 years. Looking ahead, though, he sees a future in which valley growers can command more of a premium for their grapes.

“The variety of grapes and the tonnages that are grown here are generally geared into the $5 to $10 bottle of wine. And when you analyze that and what the wineries want to pay for those varieties, it limits your ability to produce quality wine grapes,” said Saviez. “To do that you have to reduce the tonnage per acre to get a quality of grapes that you can make wine that would sell rather than $5 to $10, but $10 to $20.”

Saviez has worked with Fresno State and others to plant varieties that show promise for performing well under central valley conditions. He’s explored varieties such as albarino, chono, vermentino, shiraz, malbec, and teraldego. All with the goal of providing higher quality options to central valley growers in the future.

Saviez…”I have planted several varieties with the goal in mind to be in a position to influence the long term goals of grape growers in the central valley.”

Saviez hopes introducing new premium varieties will move prices up to the $400 – $600 per ton range seen in other areas.

2020-01-06T20:41:24-08:00January 8th, 2020|

Climate-Smart Team Announced for Farmers

UC Cooperative Extension Deploys Team of 10 to Help Farmers Practice Climate-Smart Agriculture

By Jeannette Warnert, UCANR Communications Specialist

Scientists are developing climate-smart farming practices, California is offering financial incentives to implement them, and now a group of 10 UC Cooperative Extension climate-smart educators are taking the program to the next level.

To help farmers apply for grants to improve soil quality and enhance irrigation systems, UC Agriculture and Natural Resources partnered with the California Department of Food and Agriculture to put climate smart educators in 10 California communities.  The educators are working closely with UCCE advisors to help farmers and ranchers improve soil health, irrigation practices and manure management.

The climate smart programs offered by CDFA and promoted by UC ANR educators are:

The educators provide hands-on assistance to farmers and ranchers through the complex application process, conduct field days with climate-smart farmers, establish demonstration plots to share the practices, and work with farmers who are voluntarily implementing climate-smart farming.

Most of the educators were hired in early 2019, just weeks before the application deadline. They are now gearing up for a second cycle of applications. The state funded 194 projects in 2018, and 217 in 2019.

Each of the educators has a passion for agriculture and the environment, shaped by their upbringing, experiences and education.

“I am interested in carrying out research that focuses on the adoption and economics of climate change best management practices. The practices should help farmers continue their business,” said Esther Mosase, climate-smart educator in San Diego County. “I’m interested in seeing policymakers making policies that have a farmer as a focal point. They have been here long, they have been tilling the land, they can also contribute in coming up with better solutions that reduce climate change.”

The state is providing incentives for farmers to improve soil health in order to moderate the conditions that are driving global climate change. Improving soil health increases its ability to store carbon and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Side benefits include improved water infiltration, nutrient cycling and dust control.

Farmers can apply for three-year grants to implement new practices on their farm, such as reducing tillage, growing cover crops and applying compost. Conventional farm practices turn the earth, releasing the stored carbon back into the atmosphere.

UCCE’s 10 new climate-smart educators are:

Britta Baskerville
UC Cooperative Extension, Mendocino County
blbaskerville@ucanr.edu, (707) 463-4158

Baskerville started college as a theater major in Sacramento, then realized that wouldn’t result in a viable career. After suffering from an autoimmune disease tied to microbiome health, she began to understand the important role of the food and agricultural industries in public health. Baskerville earned a bachelor’s degree from UC Berkeley that combines sustainable agriculture with the sociological and ecological impacts of agriculture, natural resources conservation and public health.

Last summer, Baskerville served as a program coordinator in an adaptive agriculture learning environment, where she designed two practicum programs for adults. She is considering a career in the food industry.

Caddie Bergren
UC Cooperative Extension, Merced County
cmbergren@ucanr.edu, (209) 385-7403

Bergren grew up in a small fishing town on an island in Alaska. She earned a bachelor’s degree in earth systems at Stanford University in 2013, and then spent two and a half years in Paraguay as a Peace Corps volunteer. Bergren worked with a women’s garden cooperative and with subsistence farmers. She spent the last three years as a community organizer.

“I was so excited to find this job, which combines my interests in working directly with all kinds of people on the intersection of agriculture and climate change,” Bergren said. “I’ve especially enjoyed using my Spanish-language skills to work with traditionally underserved farmers in this area.”

Dana Brady
UC Cooperative Extension, Glenn County
dmbrady@ucanr.edu
, (530) 517-8187

Brady completed a bachelor’s degree in animal science at Chico State University in 2018. She was familiar with UC Cooperative Extension through school and had visited UCCE research sites.

Brady grew up in a farming and ranching family in rural Linden, southeast of Stockton.

“My earliest memory is of my grandfather’s farm, where he had an emu, donkey and llama,” she said. “I was in 4-H and FFA as long as I can remember.”

In addition to working directly with farmers on grant applications, Brady has been helping advisors in Glenn County on research projects and building relationships in the community through workshops and seminars.

“I am also very excited for an upcoming event at an elementary school farm day to present about Climate Smart Agriculture and presenting at some bigger events later this year with a few others in the cohort,” Brady said.

Samikshya (Sami) Budhathoki
UC Cooperative Extension, Fresno and Madera counties
sbudhathoki@ucanr.edu, (559) 241-7515

A native of Nepal, Budhathoki traveled to the United States in 2015 to attend college at Fresno State, where she graduated with a bachelor’s degree in plant science. During her studies, she completed a weed and salinity management project with professor Anil Shrestha. Budhathoki served as an intern in plant pathology with Bayer Crop Science.

She developed in interest in agriculture because of the industry’s importance to society and the world.

“Some people don’t get enough to eat even once a day. I wanted to join the effort to end world hunger and food insecurity,” Budhathoki said.

Budhathoke said she also is concerned about climate change and welcomes the opportunity to help farmers maintain a sustainable agriculture industry even in the face of climate change.

In the future, she plans to pursue graduate studies in climate change or water management.

Emily Lovell
UC Cooperative Extension, Yolo, Solano and Sacramento counties
ejlovell@ucanr.edu, (530) 405-9777

Lovell grew up in Sacramento and developed an interest in agriculture when she was overcoming a serious illness. She graduated from UC Davis in 2016 with a bachelor’s degree in sustainable agriculture and food systems.

“Originally, I didn’t want to make money in agriculture,” she said. “I wanted to live off the land. I believe farming is a political act and I wanted to help return power to the people through farming and land ownership.”

Lovell said she is interested in pursuing a graduate degree in an area that combines community resiliency through localized food systems and economics and, eventually, becoming a crop adviser.

Esther Mosase
San Diego County
enmosase@ucanr.edu, (858) 282-6737

Mosase has a master’s degree in agricultural engineering from Botswana College of Agriculture and a doctorate from South Dakota State University in civil engineering. Her master’s research focused on water resources, watershed modeling and management.

Raised in a farming family in Botswana, Mosase experienced the impact of climate change firsthand.

“I remember we had drought years, normal years and extremely wet years,” she said. “Twenty years ago, it was not uncommon for open water to freeze. But now we get mild winters and very hot summers. Rain-fed agriculture is now a risky enterprise compared to two decades ago.”

In addition to helping farmers with the climate-smart farming grant applications, Mosase is helping farmers cope with water quality concerns.

“For instance, one farmer wanted to improve the water quality at the edge of his avocado and citrus farm before it enters the stream. He also wanted to be helped with pools of standing water in the farm that usually affect the health of avocado trees,” Mosase said. “We advised him on what to do regarding the standing water, but for the edge of the field treatment, we decided to install bioreactors.”

Mosase will help collect field data on the bioreactors’ effectiveness and plans to publish the results.

Valerie Perez
UC Cooperative Extension, Santa Cruz County
valperez@ucanr.edu, (831) 763-8028

Perez earned a bachelor’s degree in agricultural business at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo in 2018. She accepted an internship with a large animal veterinarian, and found her passion, she said. In addition to working as a climate smart community educator, Perez is taking prerequisite courses for veterinary school. She hopes her career will lead to conducting research to benefit the meat industry.

“I’ve always been interested in ways to better agriculture and how our systems could improve, but it wasn’t until I received this job that my interest for climate-smart agriculture really peaked,” Perez said. “Agriculture is such an important industry, it is vital that we find ways to educate one another on how to better what we have been doing for so many years.”

Allison Rowe
UC Cooperative Extension, Ventura County
amrowe@ucanr.edu
, (805) 645-1464

Rowe has a bachelor’s degree in biology from Colorado College in Colorado Springs and a master’s degree from the Bren School of Environmental Science and Management at UC Santa Barbara. Her background and interests focus on the interface of land management and climate change.

“Everyone and everything is interwoven with our food system and yet so much of how we produce food accelerates climate change,” Rowe said. “I enjoy being at the interface of science and education, where the rubber meets the road. I wanted to find a role where I could work with people on the ground and implement solutions to climate change while contributing to resilient farming economies.”

She said it is encouraging to see that farmers and ranchers are interested in climate-smart agriculture and welcome the technical assistance.

Kristian Salgado
UC Cooperative Extension, Imperial County
kmsalgado@ucanr.edu, (442) 265-7700

Salgado attended San Diego State University, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in 2014 with a double major in psychology and environmental studies and minors in counseling and social change. She earned a master’s degree in social science at Humboldt State University in 2018.

“My background in agriculture is very broad ranging, from topics relating to public health concerns connected to agriculture production – pesticide drift and agricultural burning – to food insecurity in low-income communities,” Salgado said.

Salgado is a native of Calexico, a city located across the border from its sister city, Mexicali, Mexico. Her farming experience centers on urban agriculture.

“Growing food on non-agricultural land has allowed me to learn the technical/scientific processes that go into growing food,” she said.

Salgado plans to continue her education in a doctoral program in ethnic studies at UC San Diego, where she can focus on several overlapping areas of interest, including race studies, food justice, sustainable agriculture, climate change, environmental decision-making processes, and participatory action research methodology and practices.

Shulamit Shroder
UC Cooperative Extension, Kern County
sashroder@ucanr.edu, (661) 868-2168

Shroder attended college at the University of Maryland in College Park, earning bachelor’s degrees in environmental science and policy and in Spanish language, literature and cultures. She has worked in an agricultural research lab, in the gardens at the University of Maryland and in a nearby organic farm. After graduating in 2016, Shroder volunteered with the Peace Corps in Senegal, West Africa, where she trained farmers on gardening and agroforestry techniques and extended improved varieties of staple crops like beans, corn, millet and sorghum.

“While serving in Senegal, I saw firsthand the effects of desertification and erratic rainfall on the ability of the community to feed itself,” she said

Shroder intends to earn a master’s degree and continue to research and promote sustainable agriculture techniques.

2019-12-06T17:15:40-08:00December 5th, 2019|

Teaching Kids to Cook California’s Bounty

California Farmers Donate Fruits Vegetables, Nuts and Beef to Cook

 

About 2,725 Consumer Science (formerly home economics) high school students at 15 different high schools will learn how to cook with locally grown produce and meat. The San Joaquin Chapter of California Women for Agriculture (SJ CWA), San Joaquin-Stanislaus CattleWomen and the San Joaquin Farm Bureau Federation (SJFB) have partnered to locate more than 500 pounds of cheese, olives, pumpkins, dry garbanzo beans, walnuts and beef for the students to cook this semester.

For three consecutive weeks starting October 22 and 29 and November 5, 2019, from 4:00 pm to 5:00 pm at the San Joaquin Office of Education in Stockton, each teacher will receive two commodities, recipes and handling material to share with their classes. The local agriculture organizations hope to both teach students what is grown locally and showcase the freshness of locally sourced produce.

The fresh pumpkins and dry garbanzo beans provided by the San Joaquin Chapter of Women for Agriculture were donated by local pumpkin grower, Van Groningen and Sons of Manteca (vgandsons.com) and the Rhodes-Stockton Bean Co-Op of Stockton. SJ CWA provides this “hands on educational” cooking opportunity for local high school students enrolled in consumer science courses to give them a snapshot of the variety of crops and commodities grown/raised in San Joaquin County. Teachers and students are provided with a variety of educational information regarding the nutritional value of each of the commodities along with cooking tips and recipes.


SJ CWA Chapter President, Dr. Marit Arana, said, “This is an excellent opportunity to showcase the commodities grown and raised in our county. We are grateful for the opportunity to work collaboratively with our donors and for our partnerships with both the San Joaquin-Stanislaus CattleWomen and San Joaquin Farm Bureau Federation. It takes a team effort to bring an educational experience of this size and scope to so many students within our county.”

San Joaquin County Agriculture is ranked seventh in the nation in dollar value at $2.5 billion and sixth out of 58 counties in the state. California produces about 400 different agriculture commodities and about half the fruits and vegetables in the United States.

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October 22, 2019 – CWA donation of pumpkins and dry garbanzo beans

October 29, 2019 – CattleWomen donation of walnuts and beef

November 5, 2019 – SJFB donation of table olives and cheese

Pick-Up Times – From 4:00pm to 5:00pm at 2911 Transworld Drive, Stockton, CA. under the solar panels in Stockton at the San Joaquin Office of Education

For information contact:
Lora Daniels
916-215-1494
SanJoaquinCWA@gmail.com

2019-11-01T16:43:07-07:00November 8th, 2019|

List of SGMA GSAs and GSPs

 

SGMA Update

GSAs Must Develop GSPs

By Don Wright, California Ag Today Contributor

SGMA uses Department of Water Resources Bulletin 118 to define basins and sub basins and assign them numbers. The San Joaquin Valley Basin is number 5-22. Within it are sub basins with their numbers following a decimal. Each sub basin one Groundwater Sustainability Agency or several, but DWR will only recognize one representative GSA per sub basin. Each GSA must develop a Groundwater Sustainability Plan on its own or as a contribution to an overarching GSP as again, DWR will only deal with one GSP per sub basin.

SGMA

Don Wright

Many of the sub basins with multiple GSAs are combining each of the GSAs’ GSPs into one overarching GSP. Most of the GSAs have released public drafts of their GSPs for review and comment. The following is a list of GSP links. When possible the links go directly to the GSP but many of the links take you to a page that has additional links to the GSPs. Some of them I haven’t found.

Merced Sub Basin 5-22.04

The Merced Sub Basin has formed three Groundwater Sustainability Agencies (GSAs): the Merced Irrigation-Urban Groundwater Sustainability Agency, the Merced Sub Basin Groundwater Sustainability Agency, and the Turner Island Water District Groundwater Sustainability Agency.

GSP https://www.mercedsgma.org/assets/pdf/gsp-sections/Merced-Subbasin-GSP-Draft-Report-Executive-Summary_2019-07-30.pdf

 

Chowchilla Sub Basin 5-22.05

The Chowchilla Sub Basin has four GSAs: Chowchilla WD, Triangle T WD, Madera County and Merced County

GSP https://www.maderacountywater.com/chowchilla-subbasin/

 

Madera Sub Basin 5-22.06

The Madera Sub Basin has seven GSAs: Madera County GSA, City of Madera GSA, Madera Irrigation District, Root Creek Water District, Madera Water District, Gravelly Ford Water District, New Stone Water District.

GSP https://www.maderacountywater.com/madera-subbasin/

 

Delta Mendota Sub Basin 5-22.07

The Delta Mendota Sub Basin has 24 GSAs: the Counties of Merced, Madera and Fresno, the Cities of Dos Palos, Firebaugh, Gustine, Los Banos, Mendota, Newman and Patterson, San Joaquin River Exchange Contractors Water Authority, Turner Island WD, Ora Loma WD, DM-II, Northwestern Delta Mendota, Patterson ID, West Stanislaus ID, Widren WD, Central Delta Mendota Regional Multi-Agency, Farmers WD, Aliso WD and Grasslands.

GSP http://deltamendota.org

 

Kings River Sub Basin 5-22.08

The Kings River Sub Basin has seven GSAs: James ID, North Kings, McMullin Area, Kings River East, Central Kings, North Fork Kings and South Kings.

GSP

North Kings https://drive.google.com/file/d/1CgjQ4-oY3AVaKXOexcJnyi3gaVhk5DPM/view

 

Westside Sub Basin 5-22.09

The Westside Sub Basin has one GSA: Westlands WD

https://wwd.ca.gov/draft-gsp/

 

Kaweah River Sub Basin 5-22.11

The Kaweah River Sub Basin has three GSAs: Eastern Kaweah, Mid Kaweah and Greater Kaweah.

GSP East Kaweah

https://ppeng.sharefile.com/share/view/sd08385c0b564a85a/fo4153c4-8351-4fc2-ae23-87be2dbeb1f0

Mid Kaweah https://www.midkaweah.org/documents

Greater Kaweah http://greaterkaweahgsa.org/resources/groundwater-sustainability-plan/

 

Tulare Lake Sub Basin 5-22.12

The Tulare Lake Sub Basin has seven GSAs; South Fork Kings, Mid Kings, Alpaugh ID, El Rico, Mid Kings River, South Fork Kings and Tri County WA

https://southforkkings.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/2019-0906-tulare-lake-subbasin-gsp-prelim-draft_for-upload.pdf

 

Tule River Sub Basin 5-22.13

The Tule River Sub Basin has six GSAs: Alpaugh, Delano-Earlimart, Lower Tule River, Pixley, Eastern Tule and Tri-County

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1P1M5tayhYI0Jc0-8Tm1o832nQ8WBBibj

 

Kern Sub Basin 5-022.14

The Kern Sub Basin went from two GSAs to 11 since SGMA began.

Kern River http://www.kernrivergsa.org/?page_id=966

Buena Vista WSD http://bvh2o.com/BVGSA-GSP-DRAFT.pdf

Kern Groundwater Authority http://www.kerngwa.com/gsp.html

Semitropic WSD

Olcese WD https://olcesewaterdistrict.org/sgma/West Kern WD

 

Arvin Edison WSD http://www.aewsd.org/

Tejon Castaic WD

Wheeler Ridge Maricopa WD

 

2019-11-01T16:36:48-07:00November 5th, 2019|

Any New Biological Opinions Will Get Review by CA Congress Reps

California Members Release Statement on Updated Biological Opinions for Central Valley Project

WASHINGTON, DC – Representatives Josh Harder (CA-10), John Garamendi (CA-03), Jim Costa (CA-16), and TJ Cox (CA-21) and U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) released the following statement on the updated biological opinions for federally protected fish species and coordinated operations of the Central Valley Project and State Water Project:

“The Endangered Species Act requires periodic reviews to determine the best available science. The federal government’s science for Chinook salmon and Delta smelt was more than a decade old and needed to be updated, especially given climate change.

“We are examining the new biological opinions to ensure they incorporate the adaptive management and real-time monitoring needed to properly manage the Central Valley Project for the benefit of all Californians. The new biological opinions must also provide the scientific basis needed to finalize the voluntary settlement agreements between the State Water Resources Control Board and water users.

“We look forward to the State of California’s thoughtful analysis of the biological opinions. In Congress, we continue working to secure federal investment in the Central Valley Project to meet California’s future water needs and support habitat restoration efforts called for in the updated biological opinions.”

 

2021-05-12T11:05:01-07:00October 24th, 2019|

How to Read a Groundwater Sustainability Plan (GSP)

GSP Are Important to Understand

By Don A. Wright
www.WaterWrights.net

The following will have a lot of abbreviations so buckle up. The California Department of Water Resources – DWR – had divided the southern San Joaquin Valley into nine hydrologic sub-basins. Under the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act – SGMA – each sub-basin must have one or more Groundwater Sustainability Agency – GSA. These GSAs are required to submit a Groundwater Sustainability Plan – GSP – to DWR for review no later than January 2020.

DWR will only accept one GSP per sub-basin and most sub-basins have multiple GSAs. Most GSAs overlie an irrigation or water district, municipality or county line.

Don Wright

In order to ensure the expert knowledge and interests of the area are well represented most GSAs have opted to write their own GSP. These individual GSPs will be combined as chapters for the overarching sub-basin GSP; so DWR will only have to review the one plan per sub-basin. For instance, the Kings River sub-basin has seven GSAs. The North Kings GSA’s GSP would be more than a foot thick if printed on paper. Stacked on top of one another all seven GSP chapters of the Kings River Sub Basin would be about five feet high.

The taxpayers of California pay the state to hire trained employees at DWR to read these plans. Most folks don’t have the luxury to hire someone to read the plans or the time and patience to do so themselves.

However, there is good news. Much of each chapter is redundant to the other chapter. For example; within the same sub-basin each GSA is required to use the same methodology to arrive at its GSP findings. This helps with uniformity in style – one chapter won’t be in acre-feet while another uses liters. In other words, you read one methodology you’ve read them all. To further refine your reading task each GSP has an executive summary. This passage sums up most of the information in the overall GSP and will save a lot of time, eyestrain and stifled yawns.

Under SGMA GSAs are required to release drafts of the GSPs for review to only counties and cities. However, most if not all of the GSAs in the San Joaquin Valley have opted to release public drafts of their GSP for comment. Not all GSPs have yet to be released but most have and the remainder will soon follow. They are available online.

In the Southern San Joaquin Valley from north to south the sub-basins are:

Delta Mendota –  http://deltamendota.org/,

Chowchilla – https://www.maderacountywater.com/subbasins/,

Madera – https://www.maderacountywater.com/subbasins/

Westside – https://www.countyofkings.com/departments/administration/county-counsel/waterfaq,

Kings River – http://kingsgroundwater.info/sgma-legislation/groundwater-sustainability-agencies/,

Tulare Lake – https://www.countyofkings.com/departments/administration/county-counsel/waterfaq

Kaweah River – https://tularelakebasin.com/alliance/index.cfm/sustainable-groundwater-management-act-sgma/kaweah-sub-basin/,

Tule River – https://tulesgma.com/,

Kern – http://www.kerngwa.com/

2019-10-04T21:27:43-07:00October 10th, 2019|

Central Valley Farmer is Honored

Harold McClarty to be honored with an Award of Distinction at UC Davis

 

Harold McClarty, a fifth-generation California farmer who built the international tree fruit and grape-growing business HMC Farms, will be honored Friday, October 4 with an Award of Distinction from the UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (CA&ES).

The award is presented annually to individuals whose contributions and achievements enhance the college’s ability to provide cutting-edge research, top-notch education and innovative outreach. McClarty is being honored as a friend of the college.

The McClarty family has been farming in the Central Valley since 1887. One hundred years later, after graduating from UC Santa Cruz, McClarty established the HMC group of companies on the family’s original 40 acres. A commitment to innovation has helped grow the family business into a vertically integrated tree fruit and table grape supplier with locations in California, Chile, Mexico and Peru.

McClarty’s wife, Deborah, is a UC Davis alumna. Today, the family business includes their two children and spouses. The McClarty family believes in the value of education and giving back to the community.

Harold served as a UC Davis Foundation Trustee for six years. The family supports many UC Davis projects, including the Agricultural Sustainability Institute’s Adopt-an-Acre program. They also support school garden programs, invest in their local community college in Reedley and give to the California Agricultural Leadership Foundation.

The Award of Distinction ceremony starts at 5:30 p.m. on Friday, October 4, in the ARC Pavilion on the UC Davis campus with a reception to follow. To learn more and register, visit the College Celebration website at https://caes.ucdavis.edu/news/events/college-celebration.

2019-10-02T10:15:45-07:00October 2nd, 2019|

Raising Shasta Dam Hit’s Snag

Termination of Shasta Dam Raise CEQA Analysis

Westlands Water District terminated its preparation of an environmental impact report pursuant to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). The District was preparing the environmental impact report to assess the effects of raising Shasta Dam, as proposed by the Bureau of Reclamation, including whether the Dam raise would adversely affect the free-flowing conditions of the McCloud River or its wild trout fishery.

Under federal law, if Reclamation determines to raise the Dam, local cost share partners would be responsible for at least half of the costs. The environmental impact report being prepared by the District would have provided the information necessary for the District to determine whether it could or would become a cost share partner. The District terminated the CEQA process because the Superior Court issued, at the request of the California Attorney General, a preliminary injunction that stopped the District from preparing the environmental review document until after the Court conducts a trial and issues a final decision in the case. The practical effect of the injunction is that the District would not likely be able to complete CEQA within the schedule Reclamation has for the project.

Tom Birmingham, the District’s general manager expressed his disappointment in this outcome: “no agency of the State has conducted a project-specific analysis of Reclamation’s proposal, to determine if enlargement of Shasta Dam would adversely affect aquatic resources – particularly those in the lower McCloud River. Westlands took the initiative to do that assessment, through the public process established by CEQA. It is unfortunate that, as a result of the actions of the Attorney General, Westlands was enjoined from completing that analysis.”  

2019-10-01T10:35:33-07:00October 1st, 2019|

Help APG Advocate for Funding to Fight NOW

American Pistachio Growers Asking Industry to Help Fund Phoenix Facility

American Pistachio Growers (APG) has been integrally involved in obtaining federally funding for the Center for Health Science & Technology Laboratory in Phoenix, AZ. The facility was originally commissioned by the cotton industry to raise sterile pink bollworm for area-wide releases in an effort to suppress the pest.

The program was even more successful than planned and the cotton industry was recently able to declare pink bollworm eradicated. Now that the facility has excess capacity, pistachio, almond, and walnut industry leaders have made a push to start breeding sterile navel orangeworm (NOW) for aerial release in California. Unfortunately, at the end of this Federal Fiscal Year, federal funding for the facility ends, and unless a new funding appropriation can be made by Congress, the facility will close.

Many pistachio growers have asked how they can help in APG’s efforts to obtain federal funding. With current efforts being focused on the U.S. Senate, growers are encouraged to write a letter to Senator Dianne Feinstein (CA) for her support. Sen. Feinstein sits on the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, & Related Agencies, which is where APG is advocating for funding.
Here is a sample letter that can be used, or you can draft your own letter that incorporates the following talking points:

  • Navel Orangeworm (NOW) is an invasive and destructive pest harmful to tree nuts (almonds, pistachios, and walnuts).
  • As much as $800 million lost each year from lost product and consumer confidence.
  • NOW is a major vector for aflatoxin, which results in shipment rejections and food safety concerns, hurting our trade position in key markets.
  • Growers spend $150-$450 per acre every year to apply currently available tools to control NOW in orchards totaling more than $500 million annually.
  • Congress & USDA can co-invest with tree nut industries by appropriating $21 million to develop a sterile insect technology (SIT) pilot program for NOW.
  • The Center for Health Science & Technology Laboratory in Phoenix, AZ is perfectly set up to take on the pilot project, but will be shut down at the end of September unless adequate funding is provided.

Letters can be faxed to 202-228-3954, emailed to joe_petrzelka@feinstein.senate.gov or mailed to:
Sen. Dianne Feinstein
303 Senate Hart Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510

2021-05-12T11:05:01-07:00September 20th, 2019|
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