SB-1 Is Yet Another Tax Grab

SB-1 Gas Tax Will Severely Hurt Ag

By Melissa Moe, Associate Editor

Governor Jerry Brown recently signed SB-1 into law. This bill will affect everyone in the state and increases several taxes and fees to raise the equivalent of roughly $52.4 billion over 10 years in new transportation revenues. We spoke with Anja Raudabaugh, CEO of the Western United Dairymen, about how this bill will affect California agriculture.

Anja Raudabaugh, CEO of Western United Dairymen

“A twenty-percent increase on fuel taxes is something that we can hardly, especially in dairy industry, afford. As you know, we cannot pass on our costs to our consumers, so adding another regulatory cost of production is incredibly hurtful and harmful,” Raudabaugh said.

SB-1 increases the excise tax on gasoline by 12 cents per gallon and the tax on diesel fuel by 20 cents per gallon starting November 1, 2017. SB-1 also creates a new annual transportation improvement fee (or TIF) starting January 1, 2018. This is based on the market value of your vehicle. This fee will range from $25 to $175.

SB-1 isn’t just targeting people who drive gas and diesel vehicles. Electric vehicles will also be targeted and will receive new fees. SB-1 also creates the road improvement fee of $100 per vehicle for zero emission vehicles starting in 2020 for model year 2020 and later.

“Everyone should be outraged over this. What’s more outrageous is that there are no guarantees that it will actually fix our roads. None whatsoever,” Raudabaugh said.

“There is actually a ballot measure that was called a lock box that was negotiated as a result of SB-1 so that several key Silicon Valley Assembly members could vote for the bill that says the public must award this transportation fund to go toward road repairs,” Raudabaugh said.

“It was sold to the Legislature as actually fixing roads and creating repairs where badly needed. To actually suggest that you would need a ballot measure to ensure that the funds do that, at least 20 percent of funds, seems really ironic,” she said.

Patrick Cavanaugh2017-05-10T22:29:43-07:00May 7th, 2017|

Rice Weed Meeting Taking Place on Sept. 15

Second Annual UC Rice Weed Course Scheduled For Sept. 15

News Release

This year will mark the second annual rice-specific weed course at the Hamilton Road Field and the Rice Experiment Station in Biggs, CA, on Friday, Sept. 15. The day will begin with an interactive field tour of the research plots (Hamilton Road Field), where attendees can get up close to the weeds and rice (bring your boots)! The course will include a hands-on weed identification session on emerging and mature weeds. In the afternoon, speakers will address several pertinent topics in California rice, including weedy red rice, regulatory update and how to constructor a weed management program.

The course is a collaborative effort between UC Cooperative Extension (UCCE), UC Davis and the California Cooperative Rice Research Foundation (CCRRF.)

Whitney Brim-Deforest

“Weed management in California rice is becoming increasingly complex. This course provides growers and pest control advisers with the latest research and management strategies for the California rice system” said Whitney Brim-DeForest, UCCE Rice Farm Advisor. The event is a great opportunity for pest control advisers, growers, industry, extension and interested students to gain a deeper understanding of topics that affect rice weed management.

The cost is $70 if received by 8/1/2017, $80 if received by 9/1/2017, and $90 if received after 9/1/2017 (if there is space.) The cost for students with a valid student ID is $40/$45/$50. For more details or to register, visit http://wric.ucdavis.edu and click on RICE WEED COURSE.

If you have questions, contact Whitney Brim-DeForest [wbrimdeforest@ucanr.edu or (530) 822-7515.]

Patrick Cavanaugh2021-05-12T11:01:59-07:00May 7th, 2017|

New Nematicide Available

New Velum One Nematicide Registered For Use in California

By Patrick Cavanaugh, Farm News Director

Horticulture crops in California and Arizona can now be protected by Velum One nematicide, a wide-spectrum nematicide that increases root health and suppresses key diseases.

“We’re excited to see Velum One go to work for growers in the key horticultural areas of California and Arizona,” Bayer Product Manager Joel Lipsitch said. “It’s another example of the innovation that our growers have come to expect from Bayer.”

Velum One suppresses nematodes below ground but also works by moving upward from the roots into the leaves of the plant to suppress key diseases and promote early season crop establishment. This activity has been shown to protect roots and establish the crop by limiting damage from a wide range of nematodes and key diseases, such as powdery mildew.

Trials have shown that Velum One aids in increasing yields as it protects plants from nematodes and disease.

“In tomatoes, for example, we’re seeing significant yield increases both from Velum One versus untreated and more importantly when Velum is added to grower-standard programs” Lipsitch said. “The combination of nematode and disease control really gives growers confidence that they are maximizing their yields and return on investment.”

Velum One is applied early in the growing season via drip chemigation. While it’s not meant to replace a fumigant, Velum One is most effective when used as part of a complete nematode management program.

Patrick Cavanaugh2021-05-12T11:01:59-07:00May 7th, 2017|

Heat Illness Prevention for Workers

Training is Key to Heat Illness Prevention

(Part One of a Series)

By Patrick Cavanaugh, Farm News Director

Temperatures heating up throughout Central California are a reminder of the critical importance of heat illness prevention for farm employees working in the luminous fields.

Scott Peters farms peaches and nectarines in the Reedley and Dinuba areas of Fresno County. He carefully watches his workers. “During the high heat periods, we have to be very careful so the guys don’t get heat illness, heat stroke types of symptoms. So we have shade and cold water readily available. We’re working on portable toilets now that have covers over them so they’re not as warm, for summer use.”

Scott Peters

Peters maintains that prevention is always the best way to keep workers safe. “It comes down to regular training,” he said.

“We also conduct heat illness training with all the field workers. We go over proper clothing— light-colored clothing, cool clothing, hats, bandanas and sunscreen—to help prevent issues,” Peters said. “If the field worker is safe and happy, he does a better job. It’s better performance and, all the way around, everybody benefits.”

And Cal/OSHA rules require certain provisions to ensure workers’ safety as the days warm up. “We have postings,” Peters said. “Our crew bosses have binders with all the heat illness information, emergency contact numbers – both company and medical – such as 911 and the local hospital. [These postings] are with them in their vans and [affixed] to our restroom units in the field.”

Patrick Cavanaugh2017-05-10T22:35:56-07:00May 5th, 2017|

Labor Issues in Sweet Potatoes

Sweet Potato Season Under Way: Labor Issues Are Big Concern

By Patrick Cavanaugh, Farm News Director

With the 2017 sweet potato season getting under way, there are major concerns about the cost of labor – in particular, the new overtime law.

“It is a high-labor crop, which makes it a very expensive crop to farm. It use to be that fumigation challenges were the biggest concern, but now it’s the overtime law,” said Scott Stoddard, a Merced County vegetable crops farm advisor with UC Cooperative Extension.

“Before the new law, workers often put in a 10-hour day during harvest. So I think in order for growers to survive, they will be forced to change the harvest methods. We have to figure out how to make the harvest less expensive,” Stoddard said.

Stoddard has had a conversation with growers about figuring out a way to increase harvest efficiency.

“Again, the expensive part of the operation is the fact that harvesting is a very slow operation,” Stoddard explained. “You’re going to have a tractor and a driver, and you’re going to have five or six people on this piece of equipment. And in a 10-hour day, this harvester might do one acre of ground.”

Right there alone, there are six employees that are making at or more than minimum wage: $12 to $15 an hour. After workman’s comp and social security are factored in, farmers are looking at six people at $12 an hour or combined $72 dollars an hour. Multiply that by 8 hours – that’s $576 dollars – and that’s only for the labor.

“And if you have to go overtime, which is needed at harvest, then labor cost rise very steeply,” Stoddard said.

Then you have to throw in everything else: the equipment costs, diesel and maintenance. And you also have the driver of the harvester. And then you have the forklifts out in the field and the portable bathroom rentals. All of a sudden, costs are up around $1,500 an acre just for harvest.

We have to ask, is it really profitable to grow sweet potatoes?

“They continue to do it, so it must be,” Stoddard said. “However, the changes in both the overtime law as well as the increase in the minimum wage are increasing the labor by 50 percent. So that means growers will need to increase their efficiency an additional 50 percent. And that’s what the industry is working on.”

Patrick Cavanaugh2017-05-02T15:46:45-07:00May 2nd, 2017|

Who Safeguards California Farm Workers’ Rights?

Mudslinging in the Field

By Laurie Greene, Founding Editor

In his 1984 Address to the Commonwealth Club of California, American labor leader and civil rights activist Cesar Chavez explained that he cofounded the National Farm Workers Association, the forerunner to UFW, in 1962 “to overthrow a farm labor system in this nation which treats farm workers as if they were not important human beings.” Yet recent developments among United Farm Workers (UFW), Agricultural Labor Relations Board (ALRB), Gerawan Farming, Inc. and farm workers illustrate the continuing, increasingly complex quagmire that masquerades as protecting California farm workers’ rights.

ALRB Chairman William B. Gould IV, who resigned on January 13, wrote to Governor Jerry Brown that the Agricultural Labor Relations Act (ALRA) is irrelevant to farm workers because they are unaware of the law’s provisions, procedures and rights.

“The instances of unfair labor practice charges and invocation of the Mandatory Mediation and Conciliation Act (MMC) are few and far between,” Gould explained. “There is no union organizing which might make workers aware of the [ALRA].” He added that only one union representation petition was filed during his 3-year tenure.

Nevertheless, under Gould’s watch, the ALRB doubled both its staff and taxpayer-funded budget to harass Gerawan and its farm workers.

Remarkably, on March 26, Monterey County Superior Court Judge Thomas Wills ruled that the UFW underpaid their own employees. Consequently, UFW must pay a $1.2 million award that includes funds to plaintiff former UFW employee Francisco Cerritos and other internal organizers, sums to other members of the class action suit for pay stub violations and penalties for California Labor Code Violations.

“It’s unfortunate that a union asks for laws to be respected,” plaintiff Cerritos said, “but [the union does] not respect them.” The UFW, Cesar Chavez’s legacy, has shortchanged its own workers.

Furthermore, ALRB whistleblower Pauline Alvarez, a 30-year former ALRB field examiner, filed a retaliation lawsuit in 2015 against the ALRB, which is still pending in Sacramento Superior Court. According to a February 27 Gerawan press release, Alvarez alleges that she recommended to former ALRB chief counsel Sylvia Torres-Guillén the dismissal of cases in which the UFW failed to cooperate and provide witnesses and evidence to support its allegations. Alvarez claims Torres-Guillén directed her and other field examiners “to dredge up witnesses that would assist the UFW’s position.”

Alvarez also asserts that she protested the settlement of farm worker cases against the UFW that contained sufficient evidence to establish UFW violations of the law. Stunningly, she affirms that the ALRB refused “to notify workers of their rights to file charges against the UFW when the UFW violated the workers’ rights,” and the “ghostwriting” of the UFW legal brief by the ALRB staff.

Perhaps most astonishing, the ALRB withheld this whistleblower’s report from ongoing legal proceedings with Gerawan and Gerawan farm workers for seven months.

Most recently, ALRB Administrative Law Judge William L. Schmidt issued a decision on April 14 in favor of the UFW, finding Gerawan violated labor law by negotiating a collective-bargaining agreement with UFW “in bad faith”— commonly called “surface bargaining”— in the eight-month period from January 2013 through August 2013.

To explain this decision in context, the UFW was voted in by Gerawan farmworkers in a runoff election in 1990 and certified by the ALRB in 1992. Significantly, UFW never reached a contract to represent Gerawan farm workers in wage negotiations with their employer. Neither did the UFW collect dues from or provide services for the farm workers, reportedly among the highest-paid in the industry.

The UFW effectively abandoned the Gerawan farm workers – that is, until 2012, after the California State Legislature amended the Agricultural Labor Relations Act to allow and accelerate an imposed mandatory mediation and conciliation process for union contracts. Thus, UFW offered a new contract proposal, via imposed mandatory mediation, to Gerawan farm workers.

Meanwhile, during the same time period in which Gerawan supposedly negotiated with UFW in bad faith, Gerawan farm workers were actively collecting signatures to petition the decertification of the UFW as their bargaining representative. The ballots cast in the ALRB-certified election in November 2013 have never been counted, to this day. Rather, they were sealed and stored in an undisclosed location, allegedly in ALRB custody.

Who is safeguarding California farm workers’ rights?

An ongoing conversation.

Safeguarding CA Farm Workers Rights – Part 2

Resources

Chavez, Cesar. “Address to the Commonwealth Club of California,” San Francisco, CA, November 9, 1984.

Cloud, Tal and Matt Patterson, “The ALRB and UFW: Partners in Crime,” The Fresno Bee, 4/24/17.

Gerawan February 27, 2017 press release, “Gerawan Farming Asks Court to Order Disclosure of Information Related to ALRB ‘Whistleblower’ Allegations: A 30-year ALRB Employee Alleges Corruption Inside ALRB.”

Gould’s January 13, 2017 Resignation Letter provided by the LA Times.

Grimes, Katy, “ALRB Spent $10 Million To Prevent Gerawan Workers’ Ballots From Being Counted,” FlashReport, March 22, 2016.

Mohan, Geoffrey, “California Farm Labor Board Chairman Quits in Anger,” LA Times, January 13, 2017, http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-alrb-resignation-20170112-story.html

Sheehan,Tim, “Rising expenses, accusations of bias confront state agency in Gerawan farm-labor conflict,” Fresno Bee, July 31, 2015.

State of California Agricultural Labor Relations Board Decision And Recommended Order, signed by William L. Schmidt, ALRB Administrative Law Judge, on April 14, 2017.

Wu, Amy, “UFW ordered to pay $1.2M in wages, OT,” The Californian, March 29, 2017, updated March 31, 2017.

Patrick Cavanaugh2018-11-16T12:45:16-08:00May 1st, 2017|

USDA Raises Plant Pest and Disease Awareness

USDA Website Provides Helpful Tips for Everyone

By Melissa Moe, Associate Editor

April is Invasive Plant Pest and Disease Awareness Month. Pests can vector dangerous diseases. In a state so dense with agriculture, Californians must be aware of the huge dangers that these pests create. We spoke to Edward Verona, the state operations coordinator for the USDA Plant Protection and Quarantine, about Hungrypests.com and how Invasive Plant Pest and Disease Awareness Month will help spread awareness of the dangers of plant pests to the public.

“There are eight helpful tips on Hungrypests.com. The public can learn what they can do to make sure that they’re not moving all of these hungry pests, not just from one state to another, but even within California, being that it’s such a large state,” Verona said.

California grows half of the fruit, vegetables and nuts that are consumed in the United States. Carrying fresh fruits and vegetables across state lines into California can spread dangerous diseases into previously uncontaminated areas and risks harming this huge supply of crops. Plants bought from nurseries and growers can also be homes for invasive pests.

“Make sure that you do buy plants and seeds from reputable sources, such as established nurseries or online businesses. You definitely don’t want to be doing that with fly-by-night dealers. Whether it’s in your neighborhood or online, definitely buy from certified sources,” Verona said.

Growers, producers, and consumers alike are all encouraged to visit Hungrypests.com to learn about the threat and what they can do to help. The website is available in English and in Spanish.

“What’s important is, only one person moving that orange, that apple, or that little sprig of citrus, can be the one to move the problem, but also, it’s everyone and the public that can help by learning what they can do and learning to recognize symptoms of these pests and diseases on hungrypests.com and report,” Verona said.

Patrick Cavanaugh2021-05-12T11:05:16-07:00April 28th, 2017|

Huanglongbing is causing concern in California

Increase of Huanglongbing in California Causes Concern

By Brian German, Associate Broadcaster

Southern California has seen a concerning increase in the amount of trees that are infected with Huanglongbing, or citrus greening disease. California Ag Today discussed the news with Beth Grafton-Cardwell, an IPM Specialist and Research Entomologist for the UC Riverside Entomology Department stationed in the San Joaquin Valley. She agreed that there is an increased concern surrounding HLB.

“It kind of exploded this fall, and it’s kind of continuing. And, that’s not unexpected. The Department of Food and Ag removes only the trees that are polymerase chain reaction – positive. And sometimes, it takes one to two years for a tree for you to be able to detect the bacteria using that method,” Grafton-Cardwell said.

Beth Grafton-Cardwell

There is no cure currently available for HLB, so once a tree is infected, it will eventually die. Researchers continue working to find a possible cure for HLB, or at the very least, a more effective means of diagnosing infected trees. “Most of the techniques that are going to help us cure or prevent the disease from being transmitted are five to ten years away. Yet, I think we’re going to see a rapid expansion of the disease in Southern California in this coming year,” Grafton-Cardwell said.

Early detection is one of the most important things. Grafton-Cardwell noted that many farmers are “helping to get the research accomplished and, for example, helping to get early detection techniques tested, and things like that so that we can try and stay on top of the disease.”

In California, production trees are not required to be screened, but many nurseries are now shifting towards putting all of their trees under screening in an effort to be more proactive in guarding against the spread of HLB.

Biological controls like Tamarixia are used as a means to reduce the number Asian citrus psyllids, which cause HLB, but that type of control method is not designed to completely eradicate insects.

“They’re starting to release the Tamarixia Wasps in Bakersfield. So we’re getting them up into the San Joaquin Valley so they can help out in those urban areas,” Grafton-Cardwell said.

Dogs are also used as a means to detect infected trees, but there is still a need for more effective techniques. “A large team of dogs can do maybe 1,000 acres a day, and we’ve got 300,000 acres of commercial citrus. So I think we need a multitude of techniques,” Grafton-Cardwell said.

Patrick Cavanaugh2021-05-12T11:01:59-07:00April 27th, 2017|

Atmospheric Rivers Hit California

Many Atmospheric Rivers Hit State

By Patrick Cavanaugh, Farm News Director

California needs an average of three atmospheric rivers annually to reach its average yearly rainfall. So far this year, the state has seen an incredible 46 atmospheric rivers. This intense rainfall has pushed much of California out of longstanding drought conditions.

California Ag Today spoke with Steve Johnson, a private meteorologist for farmers in California. We discussed atmospheric rivers (AR) and the abundance of rain California has seen in late winter and early spring.

“We had four very big AR flows, and that made a big difference. I think we’re up to 46, and that’s what has made the big difference this year,” Johnson said. With the additional 41 smaller AR, we have seen a very wet California; it is an astounding amount of atmospheric rivers.

Johnson explained that because the storms have been so difficult to predict, it has made things difficult for farmers planning their season. “This year, there was no signal at all. These storms crept up on us this winter. It was very, very dicey for forecasting,” he said. “The year was difficult because some of these storms – in fact the big ones – even though they showed up in the 14, 16-day period, they didn’t look gigantic until about day seven or eight. Then they start gaining and gaining and gaining, and by day four or day five they looked monstrous. Well, that’s not very much time to prepare.”

Johnson noted that these unpredictable storms were caused by an anomaly in the Pacific Ocean that is a remnant of last year’s El Nino. “The predominant reason that we kept getting these atmospheric rivers has been the fact that the sea surface temperatures across the Pacific Ocean have been in a very unusual anomaly,” he said. “They’ve been cold in the Gulf of Alaska, and we have a leftover bit of warmth from last year’s record-setting El Nino that has spread north to just west of the California coast – very warm waters that go all the way over to Japan.”

“If you take a look at the differentiation between the cold water in the Gulf of Alaska versus the warm water, the anomalies between Japan and California, that has created a zonal flow since October.

“Those atmospheric rivers have been grabbing a lot of moisture coming up from that warm water off the California to the Hawaii coast, and then coming into California. It’s just been one right after another,” Johnson said.

Patrick Cavanaugh2021-05-12T11:05:16-07:00April 25th, 2017|

Indoor Heat Regs: A Solution to a Problem?

New Regs Target Indoor Heat Illness Prevention

By Patrick Cavanaugh, Farm News Director

Many agricultural organizations have submitted written comments opposing Cal-OSHA’s proposed heat illness prevention in indoor places of employment. California has long had an outdoor heat illness regulation, but now an indoor regulation is a possibility. Roger Isom, President and CEO of the Western Agricultural Processors Association – which includes California’s nut processors, cotton gins and other industries – spoke to California Ag Today about the issue.

“This is a solution looking for a problem,” Isom said. “There’s no problem here. The incidents that drove the legislation came out of the Riverside-Ontario, area where you had warehouses that don’t have air conditioning. Most of the time, the temperature in that area is in the 70s and 80s, occasionally in the 90s. Every once in a while they’ll get that rare heat wave that gets up to 100, and if you’re not used to it, yeah, you’re going to have a problem.”

Because Central Valley agriculture is used to the higher heat levels, the buildings are designed differently for the workers, Isom explained. “They’re adequately ventilated. The air moves through it, and we’re used to that heat, so it’s not what we’re talking about in the San Joaquin Valley. Why throw everybody under the bus, so to speak? Makes no sense in this case. It really should be a targeted regulation. The legislature’s allowed for that. Cal-OSHA just need to be directed,” Isom said.

Nearly all the farm buildings have big open doors and are well ventilated with fans and some portable evaporative coolers. Workers who come out of the field where it’s 105 degrees and then walk into those buildings find it quite comfortable.

“It’s going to not make a lot of sense that if we’re telling the guys that are working out on the gin yard to come into the gin for shade if you’re feeling hot or you’re feeling ill. Now you’re subject to another rule regarding higher heat in the building that might be contrary to what you’re doing. It just doesn’t make a lot of sense,” Isom said.

Patrick Cavanaugh2021-05-12T11:05:17-07:00April 21st, 2017|