2nd in Series: Mental Health on the Farm

Part 2  Mental Health on the Farm:  Destigmatizing Mental Health

October 4th – 10th is National Mental Illness Awareness week, and National Depression Screening Day is tomorrow, October 8, 2015.

Resources are provided at the end of this post.

Karen Markland, Division Manager for the Fresno County Department of Behavioral Health‘s Planning, Prevention and Supportive Services. spoke with California Ag Today Editor Laurie Greene about mental health and the state’s farmers and farmworkers who have experienced increased stress due to the drought and environmental water restrictions impacting their livelihoods.

Editor: Back in April, your department partnered with the Fresno Economic Opportunities Commission (EOC) and the USDA to receive a grant specifically to host a conference called “The Drought Emergency and Preparedness Conference,” (DEAP). DEAP was a full-day event for farmers to discuss the drought and water, but also included representatives from mental health?

Markland: Here was the Department of Behavioral Health, a mental health partner, at an agricultural event. It was fascinating to see the curious looks that implied, “I kind of want to go up there, but I don’t want to go up there.” And by the end of the day, we had attendees and farmers approaching our table. We created an agricultural theme with plants and live videos of our gardening projects to destigmatize and show that mental health and mental wellness speak all languages. So we were pleased to be there.

Editor: We understand the Fresno County Farm Bureau participated?

Markland:   Yes, the meeting with the EOC and USDA was actually initiated by the Fresno County Farm Bureau, which is is very interested in the wellbeing of its community. Ryan Jacobson, Farm Bureau ceo/executive director, had received some communication indicating our farmers were feeling stress and that some had lost their lives based on the anxiety and depression brought on by these drought conditions. It was time for us to activate and come together to talk about a very uncomfortable subject.

Our Farm Bureau and the USDA partnered to talk to workers and farmers who aren’t just happy; rather, they are depressed and anxious, and we are worried about them. The collaboration among the Farm Bureau, USDA and mental health was wonderful.  It was an amazing dialogue to jointly say, “This is such a stigmatizing topic for a group of individuals who are typically adult male farmers who don’t want to share or hear these words. Yet, we’ve lost lives, so it is time to make a difference.”

The Fresno Department of Behavioral Health is dedicated to supporting the wellness of individuals, families, and communities in Fresno County who are affected by, or at risk of, mental illness and/or substance use disorders through cultivation of strengths toward promoting recovery in the least restrictive environment.County of Fresno Logo

The Fresno Department of Behavioral Health provides mental health and substance abuse services to adults within the County of Fresno. The programs within our department focus on delivering the highest quality of service. There are over 300 professionals and staff dedicated to providing services in both metropolitan and rural areas. The diversity of our staff has helped us create a department that is sensitive to cultural differences and attempts to bridge the language barriers with our consumers. 

2016-05-31T19:27:08-07:00October 8th, 2015|

Water Rally Calls for Action

Water Rally Calls for Action, More Voices

By Brian German, Associate Broadcaster

At the recent “Take Back our Water Rally” in Mendota, hundreds gathered to call on Governor Brown to recognize the impact of not just the drought, but the bureaucratic decisions that have had devastating consequences for California farmers. Leadership at the water rally called for action and more voices in the plea for change.

Aubrey Bettencourt, executive director of California Water Alliance, shared some points she made a the rally, “My challenge to this audience was to understand there is a void of leadership. We have a governor who says he is handling this, and he is not. We have no recovery plan for how to get out of this drought. How do we get out of the crisis?  There has been no pathway to recovery, neither from the federal government, nor the state government.” Finally, last month, a group of 47 legislators, both Republican and Democratic, called for a special legislative session.

Bettencourt pointed out the Ag industry is not alone in having been adversely affected by the water constraints. “We all need to communicate to our elected officials,” she said, “that we need a path to relief. My challenge to the audience was to help them realize that because the drought is now statewide and regulatory constraints have drastically cut the regular water supply, we are all—ag and urban communities—even the environmental conservation community—feeling the effects. While we’ve been in this situation for years, and years, and years, we need to expand our base and build our army.”

Many attendees are concerned about the use of the Endangered Species Act to cut water supplies that Central Valley farmers depend on in order to increase populations of a fish that can just as easily be grown by the thousands in hatcheries.

Calling to educate those outside of agriculture to advocate for change in water policies, Bettencourt remarked, “Help those who are unfamiliar with the importance of supply, or more importantly, the lack of supply, to understand why they are frustrated, what is really going on, and how California’s water supply really works. Let’s activate them to being an additional voice to ours; encouraging many voices from diverse locations saying the same thing is the only way the agricultural community, and all stakeholders in California, will ever be heard,” she said.

While forecasters are still optimistic El Niño will deliver heavy rainfall, Bettencourt says California’s water issues will continue unless there is a change in the legislature. She emphasized it would take a big push from more than just the agricultural sector to demand the change that is needed. “It is a numbers game,” she explained. “When you look at the population in California, the bulk of the voters are in the Bay Area, along the Coast and in Southern California. If you add up the registered voters of all the agricultural counties in California, the total is not enough to offset even one of those three heavily populated areas. So the sole hope we have to maximize the only two opportunities for input we can control—our voice and our vote—is to get new voices and new votes,” Bettencourt said.

2016-05-31T19:27:08-07:00October 7th, 2015|

Historic Milk Pricing Hearing in Clovis

Historic Milk Pricing Hearing in Clovis:

Converting California to the Federal Milk Marketing Order

By Patrick Cavanaugh, Deputy Editor

In Clovis last week, an historic USDA milk pricing hearing commenced to gather testimony from the California dairy industry, which for the most part, favors changing to the Federal Milk Marketing Order (FMMO). This represents an abandonment of the state marketing order which has been harmful to dairies since it was altered 10 years ago to disallow dairies from getting paid the same price for their milk and whey products.

William Francis, director, USDA Order Formulation and Enforcement, is involved in the formal rule-making process for marketing orders. Francis commented, “There’s been tremendous interest in a federal order for California and we are holding a formal rule hearing for the promulgation of a California FMMO. This is an historic event. For years, the state has operated a program. But, farmers have gotten together and invited us to come in for the state’s hearing.”

The hearing could last as long as eight weeks to review each of four proposals. Francis noted, “We are here as long as it takes. We want to make sure we have a complete and accurate record so there are no time constraints,” He said the USDA will post a transcript on their website, filter through all of the documentation and make a recommendation.

A comment period with a sufficient amount of time will follow the public announcement of the USDA decision. “Then we will generate a modified final decision,” Francis said. “By the time we complete that process, farmers will have the opportunity to vote on the modified decision through a referendum process, which could be up to two years away.”

USDA Federal Milk Marketing Order (FMMO)

Industry Information Request postings

All of the proposals can be viewed at www.ams.usda.gov/CAOrder.

2016-05-31T19:27:08-07:00October 2nd, 2015|

Ag in the Classroom

Teaching Ag in the Classroom

 

By Charmayne Hefley, Associate Editor

 

As the disconnect between consumers and the source of their food grows, many students do not understand where their food comes from. California teachers are doing their part to bridge the educational gap by teaching ag in the classroom.

Agriculture in the ClassroomKathy Yager, a fifth grade teacher at Fowler Unified School District, as well as a farmer, brings agriculture education to her students in several ways. “We’ve been using programs through the California Foundation for Agriculture in the Classroom,” Yager said.

“I’ve participated in Taste Test grants,” Yager said. The grant allows teachers to bring in a new ag product, “and the students get the opportunity to try those things.” Yager said it also helps expose students to new products, and allows them to become better informDairy Council of CAed consumers in the future.

“We also have visits from the Dairy Council of California and students get to see a dairy cow and how the whole milking process works,” Yager said.

In addition Yager brings farmers, including her own brother, into the classroom to educate students, “and [they] show students how agriculture works and how a product gets from the field, to the stores, and to them.”

Healthy Eating

California Foundation for Agriculture in the Classroom (CFAIC)

More than 7 million California students are fed, clothed and housed with products grown right here on our farms, in our fields and within our forests. California Foundation for Agriculture in the Classroom is dedicated to helping students and teachers across our great state gain an understanding of how agriculture provides the daily essentials necessary to make our society and our world function.

From the cotton in our jeans and the food on our tables, to our landscaped yards and playing fields, we all depend on agriculture. The survival of this vital industry depends on educating and encouraging the next generation of decision-makers. We do this by engaging students and educators in meaningful ways: developing and sharing unique classroom curriculum, supporting school garden efforts, spreading our message at local Ag Days, honoring outstanding educators, rewarding students who learn and write stories about agriculture and so much more.

http://www.cfaitc.org/imaginethis/Featured Programs:

Imagine this… Story Writing Contest

Meet Academic Content Standards for California schools through this creative writing contest!

Create a positive learning experience that promotes reading, writing and the arts, and furthers the understanding of agriculture in our lives by using this award-winning contest in your classroom.

PUBLISHED AUTHOR

State-winning authors will have their stories published in an illustrated book and will be distributed to school libraries and classrooms across the state!

DEADLINE: NOV. 1

Entries must be postmarked by November 1, annually.
Download entry form (PDF, 331 KB)

California Fruits and Vegetables Seasonal Chart (PDF, 18 KB)

2016-05-31T19:27:09-07:00September 22nd, 2015|

Exclusive Interview with ALRB Chairman Bill Gould

ALRB Chairman Bill Gould Defends ALRB’s Actions

By Patrick Cavanaugh, Deputy Editor

California Ag Today exclusively interviewed William B. Gould IV, member and chairman of the California Agricultural Labor Relations Board (ALRB), and previously chairman of the National Labor Relations Board. ALRB Chairman Bill Gould described his extensive experience in labor law, “I have been practicing in labor law both on the union and employer side. I’ve arbitrated labor disputes for 50 years as an impartial arbitrator, and I’ve been in academics, teaching law, and of course in government service as well.”

Chairman Gould defined the Board’s role, “The ALRB is a quasi-judicial neutral agency that was established to interpret and administer the Agricultural Labor Relations Act of 1975. It deals with the cases in front of it the best it can and tries to promote rulemaking to implement the objectives of the statute.

When pressed to address a widely held belief that the ALRB is biased in favor of the United Farm Workers (UFW), particularly against Gerawan Family Farms, a Fresno County tree fruit operation which for several years has witnessed a majority of its farmworkers attempt to fight mandatory-mediation-imposed UFW representation and fees, Chairman Gould replied, “The ALRB is a government agency that is concerned with enforcing and administering labor laws. I think when you get in the business of interpreting law and finding facts, sometimes people don’t always agree, and that has happened in a number of cases. A lot of people don’t understand that the statute is written fundamentally to protect the rights of workers to engage in freedom of association and in concert under conditions they consider unfair. The Act also protects employees from retaliation for these freedoms. We are an impartial agency that attempts to take into account the interests of all parties; but fundamentally, we have to find all the facts before us and make decisions and determinations.”

ALRBWhen asked if, in general, farmers were taking care of their workers, Gould answered, “I’m not in a position to say whether farmers are taking care of their farmworkers. That’s really a broader mission than the one that the legislation has given to us. We are concerned with whether, in particular cases, violations of the statute have occurred, and in remedying those violations.”

“And while farmers would agree that farmworkers should have the right to speak up when something is wrong without any retaliation,” Gould elaborated, “bosses are not forced to correct any wrong or to change things. And the boss is not obliged under our statute to do anything about wages, health or safety concerns. We are concerned with giving workers the ability to speak up and engage in concerted activity with protection against employer retaliation.”

On September 17, ALRB administrative judge Mark Soble ruled to prohibit Gerawan employees from learning the outcome of ballots cast in 2013 to decertify the UFW union, angering the agricultural industry and the Gerawan farmworkers, in particular. Gould said, “I can’t make any comments about that matter at all.”

Recently the ALRB hosted three hearings in the state to learn how to better educate farmworkers about their labor rights and to establish legal access to communicate directly with them during work hours at their work sites. Prompted to explain this ALRB request to access private farm property, during production hours, Gould replied, “The problem is the difficulty in reaching those with lack of legal status and who live in the shadow of the law and are afraid to protest. As the most recent witness testified, this population is sometimes cut off by language barriers and might not know the content of the law.”

“Putting aside language and documented status,” Gould continued, “many workers don’t know some very basic aspects of the National Labor Relations Act because of the inability of the Board under the Act to communicate with those workers. So what we are looking at is our ability to communicate the content of the law and the procedures we employ more effectively than in the past.”

When asked about other forms of outreach, such as hanging educational posters in different languages that workers understand, Gould said, “These indigenous languages are something that only academics read. I don’t think that many of the farmers are academics.”

Chairman Gould explained the ALRB could reach workers who speak these ancient languages by “having lawyers on private property describe the content of our statutes and our procedures and perhaps show videos that would explain the rules in their own language.”

ALRB Bio

Appointed in March 2014 as a member and chairman of the Agricultural Labor Relations Board, William B. Gould IV has been Charles A. Beardsley professor of law, emeritus at Stanford Law School since 2002, where he has held multiple positions since 1972, including professor of law. He was chairman of the National Labor Relations Board from 1994 to 1998. Mr. Gould was a visiting professor of law at Harvard Law School from 1971 to 1972, professor of law at Wayne State University Law School from 1968 to 1972, and a lawyer at Battle Fowler Stokes and Kheel from 1965 to 1968. He was an attorney-advisor for the National Labor Relations Board from 1963 to 1965 and assistant general counsel for the United Automobile Workers from 1961 to 1962. Mr. Gould is a member of the National Academy of Arbitrators. He earned a Bachelor of Laws degree from Cornell Law School.

Mr. Gould’s term expires January 1, 2017 (Pursuant to Labor Code § 1141(b).)

2016-05-31T19:27:10-07:00September 21st, 2015|

ALRB Education Does Not Require Worksite Access

Barry Bedwell Says ALRB Education for Farmworkers is Okay, But Not Worksite Access

By Patrick Cavanaugh, Deputy Editor

Officials from the California Agricultural Relations Labor Board (ALRB) held a public hearing in Fresno TODAY to talk about their proposal for worksite access– private operating farms–to educate farmworkers about the ALRB, and that did not sit well with ag leaders. Barry Bedwell, president of the California Fresh Fruit Association based in Fresno and other ag leaders questioned the ALRB’s motives.

“The real proposal has to do with granting legal access to ALRB agents to agricultural worksites for the purpose of educating workers about the Agricultural Labor Relations Act,” Bedwell said. “Education alone is something that no one I’ve talked to is against, clearly. We want people to understand their rights under the law.”

The Act provides, encourages and protects collective-bargaining rights for agricultural employees, but as Bedwell explained, access to a private worksite is a totally separate legal issue.

“It’s really complicated, unfortunately, because ALRB’s staff has shown to a great degree over the recent couple of years, a distinct bias towards organized labor,” Bedwell said. “The Act is all about a worker’s right to get one or more people together to complain about work conditions and to ask for certain things. It doesn’t mean the employer has to grant them; it’s really about worker’s rights.”

Bedwell said the request from the ALRB is distinctly not about a union’s rights, and “it’s never been about the employer’s rights,” Bedwell said. “We know that. But in this case, we think it’s at best premature to talk about workplace access without first understanding the issue of knowledge [or the lack thereof] out there currently and the best ways to conduct that education.”

Pointing to heat illness prevention and Cal/OSHA as a great example, Bedwell said, “Cal/OSHA did not ask for access to go onto someone’s private property. Instead, they said, ‘We will create the information systems through various media and through seminars which agriculture helped to organize and fund.’ We think that’s a great model for educational services, and we could help.”

2016-05-31T19:28:05-07:00September 10th, 2015|

No-tillage Grows in California

The list of crops that have been successfully grown using no-tillage in California continues to increase with garbanzo beans being the latest addition, according to Jeffrey P. Mitchell, CE cropping systems specialist, University of California, Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources.

Harvest data from the Conservation Tillage Workgroup are now in for a 2015 garbanzo crop that was no-till seeded in January in the longstanding conservation agriculture systems study field in Five Points, CA, and these data indicate no difference in yield between the no-till with and without cover crop treatments and the standard till with and without cover crop systems. Garbanzo yields for the four systems averaged about 3,600 lbs / acre with no statistical differences seen between the four experimental treatments.

Other than an herbicide spraying in the fall of 2014 to knock down weeds, the no-tillage systems relied on zero tillage prior to seeding that was done with a John Deere 1730 6-row 30” planter. Conventional tillage consisting of several passes of a Wilcox Performer bed-shaping tillage implement was done to prepare planting beds in the standard tillage plots as would be commonly done in the region.

There is now a growing list of several crops, including processing tomatoes, cotton and dairy forage that have been successfully produced, both in research studies and on California farms, with economically viable yields using no-tillage seeding.

Additional information about this study is available at the Conservation Agriculture Systems Innovation Center (CASI) website and by contacting Jeff Mitchell at jpmitchell@ucdavis.edu.

Established in 1998, the Conservation Cropping Systems Workgroup is a diverse group of more than 1,500 farmer, University of California, California State University, USDA – NRCS, Resource Conservation District, public agency, private sector and environmental group members that have come together to promote conservation cropping systems in California.

Featured Photo Soure: Source: CASI (Conservation Agriculture Systems Innovation) Center, University of California, Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources

2016-05-31T19:28:05-07:00September 2nd, 2015|

My Job Depends on Ag Update

My Job Depends on Ag Update

By Charmayne Hefley, Associate Editor

The “My Job Depends on Ag” Movement has more than just decals and a potential festival in the making. Erik Wilson, co-founder of “My Job Depends on Ag” with Steve Malanca, explained at the group’s meeting earlier this month, they hope to become a non-profit and use proceeds from decal sales to provide scholarships for students in agriculture. “We would like to keep young people connected to agriculture through scholarships and education,” Wilson said, “and foster their creative ideas about how their food is grown and processed.”

Erik Wilson

Erik Wilson

Wilson wants to see the movement grow to become an educational resource for agricultural topics directly from those involved in Ag. “I would really like to see anyone who is curious about how their food evolves from field to fork view our Facebook page as a open source of first-hand information—not from a news desk miles away from a field—but from the people in the field who are cultivating it. Because the people who do it and their kids, eat the same food and yet their stories haven’t been told.”

Wilson would like people to see that phrase My job depends on Ag, “and ask themselves if their own job depends on Ag. For me it would be a win-win for the public to grasp the value in growing food. I think growing food is the most honorable industry in the world.”

2016-05-31T19:28:06-07:00August 29th, 2015|

ALRB Pushes Worksite Access

ALRB Pushes Worksite Access in Upcoming Public Hearings

By Laurie Greene, Editor

 

Announced TODAY, The Agricultural Labor Relations Board ( ALRB) will be traveling to key agricultural areas in the state next month to hear comments from  farmworkers, employers and the public on the ALRB’s proposed rule to permit ALRB staff worksite access to educate farmworkers and field supervisors about the rights and responsibilities provided by the Agricultural Labor Relations Act (Act).

 

The public hearings will be held in Fresno, Salinas, Santa Maria and Oxnard, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. or until such time that all public testimony has been received.

 

Further information about the hearings appears at the end of this article.

 

THE PURPOSE OF THE ACT

 

The ALRB reports:

In 1975, the California State Legislature passed the Agricultural Labor Relations Act guaranteeing certain rights to California farm workers. The purpose of the Act is to “ensure peace in the agricultural fields by guaranteeing justice for all agricultural workers and stability in labor relations.” The Act states that it is the policy of the State of California to encourage and protect the right of farm workers to act together to help themselves, to engage in union organizational activity and to select their own representatives for the purpose of bargaining with their employer for a contract covering their wages, hours, and working conditions. The law prohibits the employers from interfering with these rights, protects the rights of workers to be free from restraint or coercion by unions or employers, and it prohibits unions from engaging in certain types of strikes and picketing.

 

The Agricultural Labor Relations Board is the agency which administers the Act and protects the rights of agricultural employees in various ways. For example, the Act creates a method by which workers may select a union or other representative to bargain with their employer if they wish. Agents of the Board conduct secret ballot elections to determine whether workers wish to be represented and if so, by whom. Also, the Act gives authority to the ALRB to investigate, process and take to trial employers or unions who engage in actions which the Act describes as “unfair labor practices” (ULPs). When Board employees conduct an investigation and obtain enough evidence to show that an unfair labor practice has been committed, a “complaint” is issued and a hearing is held at which each party has a right to present its side of the case. The Act guarantees the rights of employees to engage in, or to refrain from, union activities or “concerted activities,” such as acting together to help or protect each other in matters related to their employment.

 

ALRB HEARINGS AND LOCATIONS

  • Each facility will accommodate between 150-200 persons.
  • Spanish, Mixtec, Trique and Hmong interpreters will be available for language assistance. Other language services are available upon request.
  • The hearings will be recorded and an electronic copy of the transcript will be available.

FRESNO

Wednesday, September 9th

Doubletree by Hilton Fresno Convention Center 2233 Ventura Street, Salon C, Fresno (559) 268-1000

 

SALINAS

Monday, September 14th

Elks Lodge, 614 Airport Boulevard, Salinas  (831) 424-8039

 

SANTA MARIA

Tuesday, September 15th

Santa Maria Inn, 801 South Broadway Santa Maria (805) 628-7777

 

OXNARD

Wednesday, September 16th

Courtyard by Marriott, 600 E. Esplanade Drive Oxnard (805) 988-3600

 

You may contact the ALRB Executive Secretary’s Office at (916) 653-3741 or jbarbosa@alrb.ca.gov with any questions.

2016-05-31T19:28:07-07:00August 14th, 2015|

Big Water Rally at Grizzlies Stadium Aug. 21

Water Rally August 21 to Fill Grizzlies Stadium for #moreDAMstorage

Valley Ag Retailer gives away thousands of complimentary tickets in effort to promote #moreDAMstorage as a long-term solution to California’s water woes.

Gar Tootelian, Inc. (GAR) has invited Central Valley growers and businesses to rally around the backdrop of a Fresno Grizzlies Game on Friday, August 21, 2015 in support of #moreDAM storage.

“California’s Central Valley depends on reliable, clean water to survive and thrive. The rally’s goal is to fill the stands with those who support #moreDAMstorage as a solution to California’s water woes” said Greg Musson, president of Gar Tootelian, Inc. “For too long now, Sacramento has delivered nothing but lip service to valley water needs. It is time for the people of this valley to rise up and be heard.”

The Rally is an opportunity to learn more about the organizations working together on California’s long term water storage solutions. The Rally and fireworks will be highlights of the Fresno Grizzlies game on Friday, August 21, 2015 at Chukchansi Park, Downtown Fresno. Gates open at 6:05 pm. The game start time is 7:05 pm. GAR is giving away thousands of complimentary tickets which are limited and will be available on a first come first serve basis. You may pick up your tickets at the GAR booth located on the corner of Inyo and “H” Street the night of the game beginning at 5:00 pm.

“GAR takes great pride in supporting long term water storage solutions for the health and sustainability of our Valley,” said Musson, “I personally look forward to welcoming you to the Central Valley Water Rally at Fresno Grizzlies Stadium!”

GAR is committed to supporting long term water storage solutions for California’s greater tomorrow. The company provides water, nutrition, regulatory and crop care advice and products to more than 1,500 growers throughout the Central Valley.

 

2016-05-31T19:28:07-07:00August 14th, 2015|

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