Alliance Against Food and Farmer Disparagement

The Alliance for Food and Farming Counters Food and Farmer Disparagement

By Patrick Cavanaugh, Laurie Greene and Courtney Steward, CaliforniaAgToday

Experts around the world agree that eating more fruits and vegetables is the best thing we can do to reduce disease, prevent obesity, and improve our health. But sometimes consumers need to know more about organic and conventional fruits and vegetables so they can make the right shopping choices for themselves and their families.

The Alliance for Food and Farming (AFF), based in Watsonville, is a non-profit organization comprised of both organic and conventional farmers that delivers credible information to consumers about the safety of organic and conventional fruits and vegetables.

According to Teresa Thorne, with AFF, “Many organizations such as Friends of the Earth (FOE), and the Environmental Working Group (EWG) are at odds with AFF for providing science-based and peer-reviewed information to consumers so they can make good shopping choices for their families.”

“Whether consumers purchase organic or conventional produce, both are safe,” Thorne said. “Health experts say simply that we should be eating more. Decades of nutrition science and health experts everywhere support the recommendation to eat more organic and conventional produce every day for better health. So, it is a little puzzling why FOE and some of the other activist groups would be concerned about that message. But, apparently they are.”

“So, what we are trying to do,” explained Thorne “is present accurate and more balanced information for consumers. Our Board of Directors, nearly 7 years ago, established that calling our healthy and safe produce “dirty” or “toxic” has to stop. We are not going to allow the disparagement of these nutritious products and the disparagement of the farmers who are working hard every single day to provide these healthy products to consumers, to stand.”

Thorne said, “So, AFF got in gear to stop it, largely by going toe-to-toe with the EWG’s so-called ‘Dirty Dozen’ list—one of the main vehicles of product disparagement. Not long ago, when the EWG published the list, nearly all newspapers, television networks and cable channels gave it widespread media coverage in major media markets and publications.”

AFF has achieved some success by introducing peer-reviewed science from experts into consumer media, with the credible message that both organic and conventional produce are safe, healthful, and people should eat more of them every day. “Just in the course of the last six years of the campaign,” said Thorne, “we’ve seen coverage of the EWR list diminish to the extent that in 2015, only one daily newspaper in Ohio covered the story. So their message is mostly limited to blogs for those who are very friendly to their message.”

Aside from the “Dirty Dozen” list, the EWG website does support the same scientific research as the Alliance:

Should we eat more fruits and vegetables?

…The health benefits of a diet rich in fruits and vegetables outweigh the risks of pesticide exposure. Eating conventionally grown produce is far better than skipping fruits and vegetables. And with EWG’s Shopper’s Guide™, consumers don’t have to choose between pesticides and healthy diets.

Do all these pesticides mean I shouldn’t eat fruits and vegetables?

No, eat your fruits and vegetables! The health benefits of a diet rich in fruits and vegetables outweigh the risks of pesticide exposure. Use EWG’s Shopper’s Guide™ to reduce your exposures as much as possible, but eating conventionally grown produce is better than not eating fruits and vegetables at all.

Shouldn’t I try to buy everything organic?

EWG recommends buying organic whenever possible.

…However, we know that organics are not accessible or affordable for everyone, so we created the Shopper’s Guide™ to help consumers make the healthiest choices given their circumstances.

…EWG always recommends eating fruits and vegetables, even conventionally grown, over processed foods and other less healthy alternatives.

AFF claims on its website:

We have an obesity epidemic and current media and internet reporting is increasing fears consumers have about eating fruits and vegetables and is lowering the faith people have in the government regulations implemented to protect them. It is inaccurate to suggest that organic is the only safe choice when it comes to selecting safe fruits and vegetables; because there is no scientific consensus to substantiate this claim.

-See more at the Alliance’s website, SafeFruitsandVeggies.com.

Thorne believes the Alliance’s success has lead to another activist group, Friends of the Earth (FOE), taking them on. Thorne said FOE is trying to discredit the Alliance by calling it a “front group”.

In its “Spinning Food” report, published in June 2015, the FOE reports:

While the Alliance presents itself as a science-based resource on the safety of organic and conventional produce, its funding comes from trade groups for industrially grown apples, citrus, pears and grapes, among other industry groups.

The “leading corporate Board Members or Donors” of the Alliance are listed as:

-California Farm Bureau Federation

-Western Growers

-Produce Marketing Association

Wikipedia defines a front organization as “any entity set up by and controlled by another organization, such as intelligence agencies, organized crime groups, banned organizations, religious or political groups, advocacy groups, or corporations. Front organizations can act for the parent group without the actions being attributed to the parent group.”

Thorne stated, “We’re not a front group. We are who we are—very transparent. The entire tax return is posted on the “About Us” section of the AFF website, as well as:

Who is Behind the Alliance for Food and Farming? and How is the Alliance for Food and Farming funded?

“But they never attack the scientific content we present,” stated Thorne, “and that really underscores our science is good and solid. They only try to discredit the organization itself with those unfounded ‘front group’ allegations.”

California Ag Today2016-05-31T19:28:08-07:00July 31st, 2015|

Westlands on Drought Relief Act

Westlands Water District Statement on the Introduction of the California Emergency Drought Relief Act of 2015

FRESNO, CA – Westlands Water District is encouraged TODAY by the introduction by Senator Dianne Feinstein of the California Emergency Drought Relief Act of 2015. The State is facing unprecedented drought conditions, and the water supply shortages caused by four years of extraordinary dry conditions have been exacerbated by the restrictions imposed on the operations of the federal Central Valley Project and the California State Water Project under federal law.

The introduction of the California Emergency Drought Relief Act of 2015 is an important step in the enactment of legislation to provide much-needed relief for the public water agencies that receive water from these projects and for the people, farms, and businesses they serve. There are great similarities between this bill and H.R. 2898, the Western Water and American Food Security Act of 2015, which passed in the House of Representatives on July 16, 2015. However, there are also great differences.

Westlands looks forward to quick passage of the California Emergency Drought Relief Act of 2015 by the Senate and to subsequent discussions in conference to reconcile the two bills. Through its work with Senator Feinstein and Members of the House of Representatives, Westlands knows that these policymakers are genuinely interested in working together with the District and other interested entities (a) to find a meaningful legislative solution to the chronic water supply shortages that have devastated the San Joaquin Valley and other regions of the State and (b) to provide effective means of protecting at-risk species. The District looks forward to working with them to find common-sense solutions that serve the interests of all Californians.

California Ag Today2016-05-31T19:28:09-07:00July 29th, 2015|

URGENT HLB Quarantine UPDATE

HLB Quarantine Update

A Huanglongbing (HLB) quarantine is now in effect in part of Los Angeles County following the detection of HLB in four citrus trees.

On July 10, a kumquat tree on a residential property was confirmed to be infected with the incurable HLB disease. After extensive surveying and testing in the area, three more diseased trees were found nearby. The four diseased trees were on four separate properties close to one another. The tree varieties include kumquat, lime, mandarin and calamondin.

California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) has already removed two of the diseased trees and is currently working with the homeowners at the other two properties to remove those trees as soon as possible. See the CDFA press release below for more details on the resulting quarantine.

QUARANTINE FOR HUANGLONGBING DECLARED IN SAN GABRIEL, LOS ANGELES COUNTY

SACRAMENTO, July 22, 2015 – An 87-square mile quarantine in the San Gabriel area of Los Angeles County has been added to the existing huanglongbing (HLB) quarantine in the Hacienda Heights-area following the detection of the citrus disease huanglongbing, or citrus greening.

Additional information, including a map of the quarantine zone, is available at the CDFA Save Our Citrus website. The quarantine boundaries are: on the north, E. Orange Grove Boulevard; on the east, N. Lemon Avenue; on the west, Griffin Avenue; and on the south W. La Habra Boulevard.

This area is part of a much larger quarantine already in place for the Asian citrus psyllid (ACP), the pest that spreads bacteria causing huanglongbing (HLB). The new quarantine will prohibit the movement of all nursery stock out of the area, while maintaining existing provisions allowing the movement of only commercially cleaned and packed citrus fruit. Any fruit that is not commercially cleaned and packed, including residential citrus, must not be removed from the property on which it is grown, although it may be processed and/or consumed on the premises.

“The success of any quarantine depends on cooperation from those affected,” said CDFA Secretary Karen Ross. “The stakes couldn’t be higher for California citrus. We urge residents in the San Gabriel-area to do all they can to comply.”

CDFA, the USDA and the Los Angeles County Agricultural Commissioner’s continue their work to investigate the source of the disease, to survey and test for it throughout the Los Angeles Basin, and to continue with ground treatment of citrus trees within 800 meters of the find sites – which began earlier this week. In the long term, the strategy is to control the spread of ACPs while researchers work to find a cure for the disease.

Huanglongbing has been confirmed four times in San Gabriel, in a kumquat tree on a residential property, in a lime tree on an adjacent residential property, and in calamondin and mandarin trees on residential properties in close proximity to the original find. The disease is bacterial and attacks the vascular system of plants. It does not pose a threat to humans or animals. The Asian citrus psyllid can spread the bacteria as the pest feeds on citrus trees and other related plants. Once a tree is infected, there is no cure; it typically declines and dies within a few years.

Huanglongbing is known to be present in Mexico and in parts of the southern U.S. Florida first detected the disease in 2005, and the University of Florida estimates that the disease causes an average loss of 7,513 jobs per year, and has cost growers $2.994 billion in lost revenue since then. Huanglongbing has also been detected in Georgia, Louisiana, South Carolina and Texas as well as Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

A total of 15 states or territories are under full or partial quarantine due to the presence of the ACP: Alabama, American Samoa, Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Guam, Hawaii, Louisiana, Mississippi, Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, South Carolina, Texas, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

The Asian citrus psyllid was first detected in California in 2008 and quarantines for the pest are now in place in 17 California counties. If Californians believe they have seen evidence of huanglongbing in local citrus trees, they are asked to please call CDFA’s toll-free pest hotline at 1-800-491-1899 FREE. For more information on the Asian citrus psyllid and huanglongbing, please visit: http://www.cdfa.ca.gov/phpps/acp/.

California Ag Today2016-05-31T19:28:09-07:00July 23rd, 2015|

We are being lied to!

Assembly Member Patterson Accuses NRDC and Governor’s Office of Bias

By Laurie Greene, Editor

“We are being lied to,” declared Jim Patterson, who represents the 23rd Assembly District in the California State Assembly since 2012, at his recent drought forum in Clovis.

“I have come to the conclusion there is a power structure led by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), the governor’s office and in the bureaucracies,” Patterson explained. “They are not telling us the truth. They do not abide by their own agreements, and they have a bias against the very water technology and the water systems that have made California a ‘Golden State’. They are biased against dams, reservoirs and conveyance, and every time I turn around, I find another example.”

Jim Patterson, California Assembly Member

Jim Patterson, California State Assembly Member

“We need to have regulatory relief from the State of California in order to build Temperance Flat (a proposed dam project on the San Joaquin River) and its conveyance systems and to build the improvements at Shasta Dam and Reservoir and at Sites Reservoir,” said Patterson.

“And yet,” he continued, “I know for a fact that we are not going to get that regulatory relief. Nevertheless, the governor and this legislature have given that very same regulatory relief to the Kings’ Basketball Stadium in Sacramento (Golden 1 Center) and to two big NFL football stadiums in the state.”

To build water saving and conveyance systems, Patterson expects to face a gauntlet of litigation from the NRDC. “Though we have tried over and over again, unsuccessfully, to get the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) reformed,” he stated, “the Democrats will do it for basketball and football, but they won’t do it for water. That demonstrates to me they are absolutely disingenuous.”

“Secondly, we were promised money in this budget for the Central California InterConnect,” Patterson said. “Putting an interconnect between the federal Central Valley Project (CVP), best illustrated by the Kings River and San Joaquin River Watersheds in the Central Valley, and the state’s California State Water Project (SWP), exemplified by the San Luis Reservoir system, is critically important. We need to connect those projects so we have water conveyance alternatives to improve water reliability and to save us from the kinds of hard decisions that we’ve had to reach now—to starve a portion of the Valley. Because we can’t get water between the two systems, the situation is real and dire.”

“The governor promised those of us who negotiated the bond the budget would include appropriations for the InterConnect,” Patterson reported. There is no such thing. It doesn’t exist, and it didn’t show up in this budget. The governor didn’t come through on his promises.”

“I have tried repeatedly to talk with the water bureaucracies—appointees of the governor—and ask how I could help them understand the importance of giving us back the water,” Patterson commented. “For example, the water behind Shasta Dam right now has been paid for and banked by our farmers. I’ve asked repeatedly, ‘Why can’t we get the InterConnect funded? You promised us that you would do that.’ I’ve asked, ‘What is it going to take for you to understand the importance of storage in the San Joaquin River Watershed?’ It’s like talking to a wall; I get no answer.”

“So, I have had to come to the conclusion that we’re being misled, and it’s on purpose,” he said. “I just don’t believe this governor anymore. That’s a sad conclusion to have to come to, but I think we are seeing a ‘behind-the-scenes hand of power’ called the NRDC, that runs the governor’s office and the state legislature.

When asked what concerned citizens can do, Patterson answered, “Today we heard a lot of passion. I think we need to turn that passion into significant efforts, politically and organizationally. We have to make a real nuisance of ourselves to the governor and to the legislature until they pay attention to us. I have learned in public life, as mayor and now in the legislature, that those people who stand up and are persistent and persuasive get heard. We have got to continue to step up in ever-increasing numbers and be heard.”

“We also have win some elections,” he emphasized. “We are under a one party-dictatorial rule right now. And I would be saying this even if Republicans were the party in rule. Our founders believed there should be separated powers in government and people in office from all walks of life. These kinds of checks and balances get us to good policy for most people, most of the time.”

“You can’t do that in a dictatorship,” Patterson explained, “and that’s really what we have—one party that has all the levels of power and is using them all against us in Central California. And we’re seeing the result of it.”

Patterson tells other members of the legislature on the committees he serves, “You are literally putting a bait fish that striped bass are eating, ahead of the lives and the wellbeing of people and their property, and you’re blaming us for it. The reality is you’re making a drought that is bad into a drought that is a nightmare.”

“If this were to be compared, for example, to a forest fire,” Patterson conjectured, “and the firefighters were told by the governor, ‘Stop trying to save lives and stop trying to save property; go make sure you save that tree over there because there’s a spotted owl in it,’ people would very quickly tell the governor where to go and what to do.”

California Ag Today2016-05-31T19:28:09-07:00July 21st, 2015|

Phone Calls Needed Now

STOP WHAT YOU’RE DOING AND MAKE AS MANY CALLS AS YOU CAN!

CALL all Senators to support the WESTERN WATER AND AMERICAN FOOD SECURITY ACT OF 2015

WE ARE DEDICATING THE REST OF THE DAY TO MAKE THESE CALLS.

OUR LIVES DEPEND ON THIS!

H.R.2898, the Western Water and American Food Security Act of 2015 has passed the House and is on the way to the Senate.

MY JOB Depends on Ag urges each and every one of us to call all U.S. Senators and tell them we want a YES vote.

Here’s a template letter to email.
Call these Senators, starting with CA and moving onward.
Say you are calling regarding HR 2898 and want the Senator to vote YES!! They may ask for your zip code and say they will pass along your concern.

Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) TODAY released the following statement after the House of Representatives passed the Western Water and American Food Security Act:

“The House today passed a drought bill that included some useful short-term provisions as well as some provisions that would violate environmental law. While I cannot support the bill as passed, I remain hopeful we can come to an agreement that can advance through both chambers.

“House Republicans are right that we need to increase the flexibility of the state’s water delivery infrastructure. We need to facilitate water transfers and maximize water pumping without violating environmental laws like the Endangered Species Act or biological opinions, and we must do this using updated science and real-time monitoring. Provisions to accomplish this were in the bill the Senate unanimously passed last year, and I plan to include them again this year with added environmental protections.

“I also believe we must look closely at ways to support water recycling, storage, desalination and groundwater replenishment projects. There are already 15 ocean desalination projects and 65 water recycling projects being considered throughout California. These types of projects—as well as building or increasing reservoir capacity—must be a part of any long-term solution.

“To get a bill through the Senate and the House we’ll need to include provisions that benefit the entire West and help support the development of alternative water infrastructure. If the climate continues to warm, as I believe it will, these alternatives will be key.”

California Ag Today2016-05-31T19:28:10-07:00July 16th, 2015|

False Data Abounds

California Drought Information Game:

False Data Out-Markets Ag

By Laurie Greene, Editor and Producer

At “The Truth About the Drought” forum, organized by Assemblymember Jim Patterson recently in Clovis, CA, moderator John Broeske, executive director of Families Protecting The Valley, said he thinks Ag is doing really badly on the information game.

“I think that we are getting out-marketed in messaging in the state of California,” said Broeske. “I think a lot of the people in the Central Valley know things that the people in Southern California and in the Bay Area, don’t know.”

Broeske continued, “I don’t blame those people for not knowing because they’re being told over and over again about the ‘80% number’ for Ag water use; and the ‘2%’ Ag contributes to the economy’. These are not real numbers, but people hear them repeatedly, so it’s not hard to understand they believe it.”

“I think the environmentalists want people to believe the 80% figure,” Broeske stated, “because it’s a lot easier to demand water from us if it appears we are using it all. But we’re not, and it’s hard for us to get the message out that these numbers aren’t true.”

Broeske did not know the best way to get the message out, but said he tries to correct people when they get it wrong. He suggested correcting online articles in the comment section to empower more people with the right numbers as ammunition for when they get into conversations. “You’ve got to fight back; if you let people use these false numbers over and over again, nothing is ever going to change.”

As false data out-markets ag in messaging, Broeske said water usage accountability is unequivalent. “Farmers are getting blasted for raising almonds and using too many gallons per almond,” said Broeske. “But, there’s no article about how many gallons it takes to raise a smelt. How many acre-feet for salmon? How many is too many? I think those questions have to be asked.”

“California is spending four million dollars of water per salmon!” Broeske declared. “Should there be some accountability there? How much water are we going to spend on one salmon? At least we get almonds at the end of the farming process. That’s what accountability means; we’ve got to create some rules about how much water is too much to save one fish.”

“I think the only way the public can demand accountability from the government and the scientists is to win elections,” he conjectured. “We are not winning the marketing war on these water usage numbers, so voters keep electing the same people who tell them the wrong numbers, and there’s nothing we can do if they keep getting elected. It’s a tough battle.”

“We are outnumbered,” Broeske said, “and I don’t know how we can overcome their marketing. They’re not even buying marketing, like billboards or advertising—just newspaper articles and news stories they are quoted in—so their marketing costs them nothing.”

“For us to win the market,” Broeske concluded, “we have to buy billboards and ads, and have enough money to do so.”

California Ag Today2016-09-13T14:11:41-07:00July 16th, 2015|

Manufacturing Consortium

U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker announced late last week that The Central Valley AgPlus Food and Beverage Manufacturing Consortium, led by Fresno State, was one of 12 new communities designated this year under the Obama Administration’s Investing in Manufacturing Communities Partnership (IMCP) initiative. IMCP was designed to accelerate the resurgence of manufacturing in communities nationwide by supporting the development of long-term economic development strategies.

Consortium members represent major Central Valley public and private institutions from the education, business, economic and workforce development and civic sectors joining forces to foster the growth and creation of food and beverage businesses and middle-skills manufacturing jobs in the Central Valley.

“An IMCP designation is an important signal to potential investors that these communities are a good place to spend their money, and this is smart government at work,” Pritzker said. “By breaking down silos and encouraging communities to take a more thoughtful, comprehensive approach to their strategic plans, we are ensuring that precious federal dollars are used on the most high impact projects and in a way that maximizes return on investment.”

The new communities were selected by an interagency panel based on the strength of their economic development plans, the potential for impact in their communities and the depths of their partnerships across the public and private sectors to carry out their plans.

Consortium members worked together to identify a sector of manufacturing where their community has a comparative advantage and drafted a strategic plan that addresses workforce and supply chain challenges; infrastructure; research and innovation; trade and investment; capital access; and operational improvement for manufacturing companies.

The 12 designated manufacturing communities will receive:

coordinated support for their strategies from 11 federal agencies with more than $1 billion available in federal economic development assistance.
a dedicated federal liaison who will help them navigate available federal resources.
recognition on a government website, accessible to prospective private foreign and domestic investors, looking for information on communities’ competitive attributes.

Mike Dozier, director of Fresno State’s Office of Community and Economic Development, the lead office for the project, said the opportunity and challenge facing the Central Valley is to claim more value from agricultural production through the food processing industry, along with its supply and distribution chains.

“California’s food system is the largest agricultural economy in the U.S. and among the top 10 globally,” Dozier said in the application. “It produced nearly $105 billion in economic output in 2012, and it was responsible for over 198,000 jobs tied directly to manufacturing.”

With 28 counties located in California’s heartland, the Central Valley plays a dominant role in this economy as America’s “Farm to Fork Capital.”

“Production agriculture has been the Central Valley’s mainstay and competitive advantage, fueling growth in the food manufacturing sector as those industries are part of a highly integrated supply chain,” he said.

The AgPlus implementation strategy will build upon the Central Valley’s unique asset base, committed partnerships and networks to:

capture more value-added cluster manufacturing and supply chain activity within the region, including to meet new demand and for local specialty products such as through the Farm to Fork efforts;
provide the workforce with the needed skills through successful career pathways models;
accelerate the development and adoption of innovative technologies so the Central Valley’s food and beverage manufacturing industry is the most efficient, safe, healthy, viable and sustainable national and global center of innovation for next-generation processing and supply chains;
facilitate the transformation of the industry to adapt to the short- and long-term impacts of drought and climate change; and
strengthen business operations and access to capital.

Consortium members are:

Higher Education: Fresno State; California State University, Chico; University of California, Davis; Central/Mother Lode Regional Consortium; Fresno State’s Water, Energy and Technology Center; Los Rios Community College District; NextEd; and UC Merced Small Business Development Center.

Government Entity: Tuolumne County Economic Development Authority; City of Avenal; City of Fresno; City of Winters; and Sacramento Area Council of Governments.

Nonprofit: Valley Vision; Center for Land-Based Learning; Fresno Community Development Financial Institution; Northern California World Trade Center; Sacramento Employment and Training Agency; Sacramento Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce; and Solano Economic Development Corporation.

Private Sector: AgTech Innovation Fund; CalAsian Pacific Chamber of Commerce; Davis Chamber of Commerce; JBT FoodTech; and PackageOne, Inc.

For more information, contact Mike Dozier at 559.278.0727 or mdozier@csufresno.edu.

California Ag Today2016-05-31T19:28:10-07:00July 16th, 2015|

Opinion Shift: Urbanites Do Not Support Ag

Aubrey Bettencourt Says Ag Industry Missed Important Opinion Shift

By Charmayne Hefley, California Ag Today Associate Editor

It was thought that the agricultural industry in California could rely on the public sector to rally behind them during this devastating drought, once consumers were ordered to undergo severe water cutbacks themselves. “That didn’t happen,” says Aubrey Bettencourt, executive director of the California Water Alliance and third generation farmer in Kings County, where she farms with her dad.

“Back in 2008/2009,” Bettencourt said, “surface water cuts due to the Endangered Species Act really came into prominence more than the 1992 Central Valley Project Improvement Act (CVPIA). At the time, the ag community anticipated that as soon as urbanites experienced similar severe water cuts, they would rally to our side with the common understanding that we all have to make these very arbitrary reductions.”

“Earlier this year, Governor Brown issued a mandatory water cut of 25 percent, on average, to the urban sector, with a range from 8 to 39 percent depending on location,” explained Bettencourt. “Urbanites did not sympathize with the agricultural community on their shared loss of so much water. Instead, they pointed the finger at Ag, called for a rope and a pitchfork, and wanted ag to take even more of a cut–not understanding that Ag had already endured a 100 percent reduction,” she said. “The California ag community thought they shared a connection with the urban community regarding Ag’s importance.”

“I think this a really fine example of how agriculture has missed the societal shift away from the agrarian-based society to a consumer-focused nation in which most people are four to six generations away from the farm,” Bettancourt noted. “And the vast majority of people don’t understand what Ag does and why production agriculture is beneficial to society as a whole.”

“As such, the general population is able to make claims on the industry from perspectives that lack understanding,” she stated, “calling for requirements that are not beneficial to the industry, and ultimately not beneficial to the population as a whole. Urbanites do not support ag, but this disconnect has developed over time,” said Bettancourt.

Patrick Cavanaugh2016-05-31T19:28:10-07:00July 14th, 2015|

Will President Obama Sign Drought Relief Bill?

Bishop: White House Opposition to Drought Relief Bill Affirms
Environmental Left’s War on People

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the White House issued a statement of administration policy on H.R. 2898, the Western Water and American Food Security Act of 2015, which the Committee passed last Thursday with a bipartisan vote of 23-12. The legislation is scheduled for consideration in the House this week. Chairman Rob Bishop (R-UT) commented:

“More blind threats and stale political messaging from the White House will not save those suffering in California and the West. The House drought relief package tackles a range of highly complicated and politically charged issues in a balanced and creative way, and is a foundation for political and practical compromise. Unless action is taken, all Americans will suffer from higher food prices caused by exacerbated drought conditions,” Bishop said.

“These trite statements reveal that the President is fine with the status quo of the extreme environmental Left’s war on people, which puts American livelihoods dead last and our economy on the brink of disaster. The people of California and the West will be better off once this President leaves office.”

Patrick Cavanaugh2016-05-31T19:28:11-07:00July 14th, 2015|

HLB Found in LA

Huanglongbing Detected on LA County Pre-Symptomatic Kumquat Tree

By Patrick Cavanaugh, Farm Director; Laurie Greene, Editor, California Ag Today

#CitrusMatters (provided by Bayer CropScience, in partnership with California Citrus Mutual)

“It’s disappointing, but fortunately it was found in a residential area,” commented Joel Nelsen, president of California Citrus Mutual (CCM), on the second discovery of Huanglongbing [wong-long-bing] (HLB), or citrus greening, in California. CCM refers to HLB as “a death sentence for California citrus” as once the plant is infected with this bacterial disease, there is no known cure.

Joel Nelsen, president, California Citrus Mutual

“HLB was detected in plant material taken from a kumquat tree in a residential neighborhood in the San Gabriel area of Los Angeles County,” Nelson stated. “The 20-year-old tree was in the front yard of a residence and had not yet shown any symptoms.”

The San Gabriel neighborhood is located about 15 miles from Hacienda Heights, where the first HLB case in the state was detected in 2012 in a residential citrus tree. The An aggressive trapping program for the Asian citrus psyllid (ACP), a pest known to spread the HLB bacteria as it feeds on citrus trees and other plants, has been ongoing ever since this first finding, including in the San Gabriel area.

“It’s fortunate that the homeowner is quite cooperative,” said Nelsen, “and other neighborhood homeowners are allowing officials to run PCR tests (polymerase chain reaction) on samples of their trees to determine if the disease is present.” PCR analysis is a sensitive research technique for detecting and identifying small numbers of bacteria in plants via DNA amplification.

Nelsen declared, “This find is exactly what the Citrus Pest and Disease Prevention Program is designed to do. PCR testing of a random sampling of leaves and stems in the area, as our program prescribes, enabled us to hit a positive” before symptoms appeared.

“We do not know how long the tree had been diseased,” said Nelsen, “but we do know that we have been trapping ACPs there for a long time and had not found any HLB before. You do not want to

find anything,” Nelsen said, “but when you do, you want to find it before it becomes an epidemic.”

In a statement on Friday, California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) Secretary Karen Ross said, “Citrus is a cherished part of our landscape and our shared history, as well as a major agricultural crop.” CDFA has been planning and preparing for HLB detections since before the first ACP was detected in the state in 2008. Quarantines are now in place in 17 California counties.

Los Angeles County Agricultural Commissioner Kurt Floren will mobilize his team over this week to check on citrus trees in plant nurseries that fall within the 800-meter radius around the infected tree area. A spray protocol is already in place for all citrus trees within the 800-meter radius.

“More traps are going out so we can try to delineate the scope of the problem. Hopefully it will be nothing more than this one tree, like the solitary diseased tree we found in Hacienda Heights,” Nelsen said.

Resources

To support the citrus industry in its fight against HLB, go to California Citrus Mutual Action Center.

For questions about the ACP or HLB, visit or call CDFA’s toll-free pest hotline at 1-800-491-1899.

View the Distribution Map of ACP, HLB and parasites in California published by the UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources.

USDA’s free “Save Our Citrus” iTunes app

Visit the Citrus Pest & Disease Prevention Program.

Verify plant symptoms at USDA’s SaveOurCitrus website.

For information and ACP solutions, go to #citrusmatters, provided by Bayer CropScience, in partnership with California Citrus Mutual

California Ag Today2016-05-31T19:28:11-07:00July 13th, 2015|

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