Water Initiative Approved by AG

California Water Priorities Initiative Goes to Ballot

The Attorney General of California, Kamala Harris, has prepared the following title and summary of the chief purpose and points of the proposed water initiative:

WATER BOND. REALLOCATION OF BOND AUTHORITY TO WATER STORAGE PROJECTS. INITIATIVE CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT AND STATUTE.

Prioritizes water uses in California, with domestic uses first and irrigation uses second, over environmental, recreational, and other beneficial uses. Reallocates up to $10.7 billion in unused bond authority from existing high-speed rail ($8.0 billion) and water storage ($2.7 billion) purposes, to fund water storage projects for domestic and irrigation uses.

Removes requirement that water storage projects funded by the $2.7 billion amount also benefit the environment. Creates new State Water and Groundwater Storage Facilities Authority to choose the projects to be funded by reallocated bond amounts. Summary of estimate by Legislative Analyst and Director of Finance of fiscal impact on state and local government:

No significant increase or decrease in the state’s anticipated debt payments from the redirection of up to $10.7 billion in bonds from previously approved measures, assuming these bonds would have been sold in the future absent this measure. Unknown net fiscal effects on state and local governments due to measure’s changes to how water is prioritized in the State Constitution, as well as potential changes to funding levels available for capital projects.

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“Measure is an opportunity for California’s people to influence the state’s priorities directly” said California Water Alliance, executive director Aubrey Bettencourt, executive director of the California Water Alliance, which is the sponsor of the water initiative.

“It’s a rare chance for the people of California to tell the state to get its priorities straight,” Bettencourt said. “High-speed rail is an unpopular boondoggle and a reliable water supply means more to the people and economy of this state in light of the current drought than ever before. Californians want to prepare the state for inevitable new droughts yet to come.”

Bettencourt emphasized that adding more storage to the state and federal water project systems will benefit more than just people and food producers, it will mean that wildlife refuges and habitats throughout the state will benefit from additional water when new droughts inevitably arrive. “The measure will give the system more operational flexibility and more options,” she said.

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About the California Water Alliance

The California Water Alliance is a statewide nonprofit organization dedicated to raising awareness about the nature of water and promoting long-term, sustainable solutions that meet the health and security needs of families, cities, businesses, farmers and the environment.

About the California Water Alliance Initiative Fund Committee

The California Water Alliance Initiative Fund Committee (FPPC ID#1381113), sponsored by the California Water Alliance, a non-profit IRC §501(c)(4) organization, is a state primarily formed ballot measure recipient committee organized to qualify two or more state ballot measures for the November 2016 ballot. It is permitted to accept unlimited, non-tax-deductible donations from individuals, corporations, partnerships, nonprofit organizations, and any other lawfully permissible sources.

California Ag Today2016-05-31T19:24:14-07:00January 26th, 2016|

UC’s Karen Klonsky Retires

Karen Klonsky Retires, Gets Major Credit for CA Agricultural Cost and Return Studies

By Patrick Cavanaugh, Deputy Editor and Laurie Greene, Editor

This is an exclusive interview with Karen Klonsky, UC Davis Cooperative Extension specialist emeritus, in the UC Davis Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics. Her expertise has been farm management and production, sustainable agriculture and organic agriculture.

CAT: Congratulations on your recent retirement!

Klonsky: Thanks Patrick. I retired on July 1, 2015, after 34 years. I started at UC Davis in ’81, straight from graduate school.

CAT: What has been your primary research interest?

Klonsky: My primary research areas are sustainable and organic agriculture. I have approached these subjects from several dimensions, including the economic feasibility of alternative farming practices, the size and growth of organic production in California, and factors influencing the adoption of alternative farming systems.

CAT: Wow, what a great career! I understand your interest in alternative farming systems began with your dissertation work comparing alfalfa systems with integrated pest management.

Klonsky: I studied agricultural economics in graduate school and started working with a professor in my department who had a joint appointment in agricultural economics and entomology. And I just became very interested in that research area.

I worked with entomologists and researchers on a computer model of plants and alfalfa weevils, and their interaction, plus a management component. I studied the plant and bug components, then did the management part and imposed it on top and asked, ‘If you did this, how many bugs would die?’ The plant model showed how much the alfalfa would grow, and at what point you could cut the alfalfa and achieve the desired yield. I never actually did any fieldwork.”

CAT: Since 1983, you not only directed ongoing Cost and Return Studies, but the development of an entire archived library of Cost and Return Studies for the UC Davis Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics. You recently completed studies on pistachios and walnuts, right?

Klonsky: Yes, both “Sample Costs to Establish and Produce English Walnuts In the Sacramento Valley, Micro sprinkler irrigated” and “Sample Costs to Establish and Produce Pistachios In the San Joaquin Valley-South, Low-Volume Irrigation.”

Our library contains studies about field, tree and vine crops and animal commodities. But since I retired, Dan Sumner, director, University of California Agricultural Issues Center and Frank H. Buck, Jr. Distinguished Professor for the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics has taken that over and I continue to be peripherally involved.

CAT: These cost studies have been recognized worldwide.

Klonsky: Yes, and it has been very gratifying work. We decided to put them online routinely, and we have had a million downloads per year. Around 2005, Pete Livingston, my staff research associate, got the idea of scanning in the older studies. All of the newer studies were in electronic file format, so posting was easy. However, most of the older studies were paper copies, so we got a grant to scan and add them to our new online archive.

CAT: What was the most interesting thing about doing those cost studies?

Klonsky: I loved doing those studies. I really learned a lot because all cost studies are done directly with farmers we met through county farm advisors. I really got to know what farmers were thinking about and what their options were.

CAT: So those were real costs, not university costs?

Klonsky: Those were not university costs. The farmers tell us what equipment they will use, and then we calculate the cost of using their equipment—the fuel used to operate the equipment and the repair costs—with an agriculture-engineering program.

CAT: Do you have a math background?

Klonsky: Yes, I got my bachelor’s at the University of Michigan in mathematics. It was very helpful.

CAT: And you also earned your Ph.D. at the University of Michigan?

Klonsky: Yes.

CAT: So did you grow up in Michigan?

Klonsky: No, I grew up in New York.

CAT: And you just had an interest in going to Michigan State University?

Klonsky: Well, I had an interest in agriculture because I had an uncle who farmed corn and vegetables in upstate New York. We would go up there and I thought it was the most wonderful thing in the world.

CAT: What were some of the highlights of your career?

Klonsky: For many, many years, I was involved in the long-term on-campus sustainable agriculture research on land that is now on Russell Ranch, but it started as Sustainable Ag Farming Systems. We looked at four different farming systems, organic, low input, high-input, and we did a lot of analyses with cover crops and rotations. It was great to work on that project.

CAT: And you worked with USDA on the trends of organic farms?

Klonsky: And then I worked quite a bit with Department of Food and Agriculture on using the registration data for their organic farmers to compile statistics about how many farmers they had, what they grew, and the number of acres they planted with each crop. They had this database, which started in 1992 I believe, but they weren’t using it. Now the most recent registration analysis is available for 2012.

CAT: Just to try to get more data on the organic movement and organic growth?

Klonsky: Yes, because there was no data at all about it. Now NASS (National Agriculture Statistics Service) conducts a nationwide Organic Census, in addition to the regular Census of Agriculture.

CAT: I understand you served as an editor of the Journal of American Society of Farm Managers and Rural Appraisers (ASFMRA). What did that entail?

Klonsky: Yes. I did that for many years. ASFMRA is a national organization. The Journal of the ASFMRA comes out annually. As editor, I corresponded with the authors, assigned reviewers, and ultimately, accepted or rejected submissions, like any journal.

CAT: Did you travel a lot with your work and presentations?

Klonsky: You know, not so much, I went to Spain one time and France once for work. But I did travel around domestically to symposiums and conferences to speak on the economics of growing a lot of different crops, including many presentations at the EcoFarm Conference.

CAT: You worked and collaborated with some really interesting people.

Klonsky: Most of my important collaborations were conducting trials with people in other disciplines. For instance, at Russell Ranch, I was the only economist involved in the collaboration with plant pathologists and pomologists who ran trials to discover fumigation alternatives in the preplanting of trees.

Then I worked with people at UC Santa Cruz on alternatives for strawberry fumigation. Most of my work has been interdisciplinary.

CAT: California farming in general is huge, diverse industry. We produce 60% of the fruits and vegetables, and nearly 100 percent of the nut crops that people across the country consume. Any comments on that and on how valiant and resilient farmers are to get through year after year, particularly lately with the drought and the lack of water deliveries?

Klonsky: When I first started, there was a land price bubble, and there were a lot of bankruptcies because people had these land payments they just couldn’t pay.

It was kind of like the mortgage crisis that housing saw in 2008, agriculture saw in the early 80s.

CAT: So as you have been editor for the Journal of the American Society of Farm Managers and Rural Appraisers, you see land values going up and that keeps agriculture strong—the high land values, right?

Klonsky: Well, but it keeps it expensive. So now there is more and more leasing of land. As farmers retire from permanent crops, they have an orchard, but they don’t really want to sell it, so they lease it.

CAT: There you go. Keep it somehow in the family.

Klonsky: Yes, they try to keep ownership in the family. Or what we see also are these development leases where a young farmer can’t afford to buy the land, so they lease the land, but they pay for the trees to be planted.

CAT: So you are still coming to your office at UC Davis?

Klonsky: I am officially retired, but we have what we call a ‘partial recall’ where you can do things if you have funding. I have a project along with Rachel Goodhue, Professor, UC Davis Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, with the California Department of Food and Agriculture, funded through the California Department of Pesticide Regulation. The Department of Pesticide Regulations is required by law to do an economic analysis of all proposed new regulations. So that is what I am working on.

CAT: Give me a couple of examples. VOC regulations?

Klonsky: Yeah, we do VOC.

CAT: Are you looking at sustainable groundwater legislation?

Klonsky: No, just pesticide regulation. It is funded by the Mill tax on pesticides.

CAT: Did you work with a lot of graduate students at UC Davis?

Klonsky: Oh yeah, I worked with a lot of graduate students coming through. One of them was on different ways of pesticide management on eucalyptus trees. I said I went to Spain. On that trip, I spoke about growing eucalyptus for firewood.

CAT: That was an economic study, wasn’t it?

Klonsky: Yes it was. They grow it not for firewood, but for paper. But that never really caught on here.

CAT: Are you bullish on agriculture? Do you think Ag is going to continue thriving in California?

Klonsky: Oh, sure. Oh, sure. But I think that the water situation is definitely real, and I think agriculture already has definitely made tremendous strides in irrigation systems, especially the subsurface irrigation in vegetables, in particular processing tomatoes, which I worked on.

CAT: That was a huge improvement in growing tomatoes. And people didn’t think it was going to work, but it turned out to be fantastic.

Klonsky: Yeah, a really win-win on that one. And orchards are getting more efficient. If you look at the water per pound of crop produced, you see major improvements with water efficiency.

CAT: Absolutely. Of course, most plants transpire most of the water they take up through the roots, up through the leaves and the stomata cells. By the way, do you have any interesting stories regarding your career?

Klonsky: It’s not the highlight, but the weirdest thing of my career is I got an email from somebody in Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries from the United Arab Emirates. They wanted me to give a live presentation about Cooperative Extension in California and how it’s organized.

So I had to go to this office building in downtown Sacramento at 10:00 at night because of the time difference. I went into a conference room that had a special kind of projector so I could see them and they could see me. And on the monitor I see all these men walked in—they were all men—and half of them were in Western dress and half of them were wearing a Sheik-like headdress, with a band that sits on top and holds it on.

That was crazy, just being downtown after everybody is gone and the whole building was dark and quiet, except the one room that I was in.

CAT: How long was the presentation?

Klonsky: Gosh, maybe an hour.

CAT: You needed to do some research for that presentation?

Klonsky: Yeah, I had to do some research, I had to think about Cooperative Extension in a different way—the big picture.

CAT: Keep up the good work, and I hope you are enjoying retirement.

Klonsky: Yeah, I come in two days a week, so it is nice to see everybody. I still get a lot of emails, which I need to answer.

California Ag Today2016-08-18T13:54:40-07:00January 26th, 2016|

California Water Priorities Ballot Measure Review Completed

Legislative Analyst Completes Review of California Water Priorities Ballot Measure

California Water Alliance (CalWA) executive director Aubrey Bettencourt announced TODAY that California Legislative Analyst Mac Taylor and Director of Finance Michael Cohen reported their findings to Attorney General Kamala Harris regarding CalWA’s proposed constitutional and statutory amendment for November’s General Election ballot.

In its report to Attorney General Harris, the Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) found that the water priorities ballot measure “would not significantly increase or decrease the state’s anticipated debt payments.”

“We are pleased that the LAO agrees that our measure performs as we intended and has no undesirable fiscal effects,” said Bettencourt. “From the outset, we wrote it to avoid any new taxes, new debt, new user fees, or other costs to the state’s taxpayers.”

The measure would redirect up to $10.7 billion in previously-authorized High-Speed Rail Project and 2014 Water Bond general obligation bond authority to fund construction of specific water-storage related projects throughout the state and amend the state’s constitution to prioritize uses of water, putting people’s needs first.

By helping to solve California’s water storage infrastructure needs, the initiative would remove unspent bond funds from the High-Speed Rail Project approved by voters in 2008, now listed as the least important infrastructure priority according to the recent Stanford Golden State Poll. Dealing with the state’s water problems is the majority of voters’ top priority, according to the same poll.

CalWA sponsored the measure with State Senator Bob Huff and Board of Equalization Vice-Chair George Runner, its proponents.

The LAO also found the net effect of the measure on federal funds and its impact on state and local governments were unknown. The LAO also reported the measure could cause unknowable changes in other state capital projects.

Bettencourt said that Attorney General Harris is expected to finish her review within a week and release an official title and summary for the measure, the first step in circulating petitions to qualify the measure for placement on November’s ballot.

“The people of California will be given the ability to reprioritize the state’s direction for the needs of today—from a high speed train to water storage,” Bettencourt said. “They will soon be able to sign the measure’s petition and help us in our efforts to qualify this important initiative measure for a vote of the people,” she concluded.

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About the California Water Alliance

About the California Water Alliance Initiative Fund Committee

Paid for by the California Water Alliance Initiative Fund | 455 Capitol Mall Suite 600, Sacramento, CA 95814

California Ag Today2016-05-31T19:24:15-07:00January 20th, 2016|

Fresno State Helps Hungry Students

Fresno State Program Helps Hungry Students

By Brian German, Associate Editor

California State University, Fresno (Fresno State) recently began a multi-initiative program to support students who are struggling with food insecurity. Jessica Medina, coordinator of the “Food Security Project” at Fresno State, said, “The project has five initiatives: an on-campus food pantry, education and resources, an app titled, “Catered Cupboard,” that shows students where on campus they can receive free food, complimentary meals at the university dining hall and the Good Samaritan Fund,” she explained.

Medina said the on-campus food and hygiene pantry, named, “Student Cupboard,” provides students with access to free food and hygiene on a daily basis. We also provide them with education—how to cook those things, how to budget, how to make sure they can afford different things as a student, and connections to resources such as CalFresh, the WIC program and other agencies in the community they can benefit from. We offer emergency funding if they ever need things, as well as lots of other initiatives that access fresh nutritious food,” she noted.

Medina said Fresno State is also a member of the College and University Food Bank Alliance (CUFBA), a professional organization of campus-based programs focused on alleviating food insecurity, hunger, and poverty among college and university students in the United States. As of TODAY, there are 257 active member institutions of CUFBA.

Medina said such CUFBA members are growing in numbers. “We are starting to pop up on other campuses,” she stated, “and we are excited the chancellor of the CSU system, Chancellor White is going to be supporting a conference to have these conversations and create a model for other institutions for the future.”

Medina said students who go hungry are less likely to do well in their studies, “There are a lot of studies on what students are like in the elementary classrooms, but [food insecurity] continues on to college and beyond as well. When you don’t know where your next meal is coming from, when you don’t have that food access available to you, it is hard to concentrate. It is hard to focus. It is hard to be successful as a student. And that is what this program is—a ‘student success’ program for our students.”

Hired as a fulltime employee by Fresno State to coordinate this, Medina commented, “I think we are one of the first campuses to create a full-time position to coordinate this effort. I graduated from Fresno State with both my undergraduate and master’s, and I am very fortunate to continue on here and be a part of this.”

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Links

CalFresh

California State University, Fresno

Catered Cupboard

College and University Food Bank Alliance (CUFBA)

Food Security Project

Food Security Project Resources

Good Samaritan Fund

Students Covered

WIC program

California Ag Today2016-05-31T19:26:58-07:00January 15th, 2016|

Project Apis m. Helps Almond Growers Empower Bees

With Free Flowering Forage

By Patrick Cavanaugh, Deputy Editor

Christi Heintz, executive director for Project Apis m. (PAm), elaborated on the message she presented at the annual Almond Conference last month in Sacramento, “Our purpose at the Almond Industry Conference was to meet growers and talk to them about planting additional forage before and after almond pollination. These are times of dearth when honey bees are not getting the nutrition they need and beekeepers have to feed tremendous amounts of sugar syrup or high-fructose corn syrup to keep the bees alive,” Heintz said.

Established as a non-profit organization in 2006, PAm has the goal of funding and directing research to enhance the health and vitality of honey bee colonies while improving crop production. Heintz explained PAm.—named after Apis mellifera, the scientific name for the European honey bee—offers farmers free mustard mix for pre-almond bloom or clover mix for post-almond bloom to extend the season of nutrition availability for bees when they are most vulnerable. The increase in forage also benefits bees by providing additional natural and more diverse sources of nutrition resulting in better pollination and increased crop yields.

Heintz wants more growers to take part in the program. She reemphasized, “Honey bees love almonds, but we worry about those times just before and just after bloom. If you can get something going before bloom, you’ll get bee colonies that want to go out and forage for pollen, and they will be in great shape for almond pollination,”Heintz said.

Heintz enthusiastically urges growers to get involved by contacting PAm at ProjectApis@gmail.com and ask about forage seed mix to plant for honeybees. Growers can also go to the Project Apis m. website and to their web page For the Almond Grower.

Heintz has managed research, including pollination research since 1979, and has focused on honey bees since 2006. She also manages the Environmental Sustainability Program and production research for the Almond Board of California.

California Ag Today2021-05-12T11:05:58-07:00January 14th, 2016|

Grower-PCA Communication is Critical

By Laurie Greene, Editor

Emily Symmes, UC Cooperative Extension Integrated Pest Management Advisor, Butte County, is amazed at the professionalism of growers and Pest Control Advisors (PCAs). “I deal directly with growers and land managers, as well as crop advisors and pest control consultants” said Symmes, “and everyone has so much to do out there, so grower-PCA communication is critical. Sometimes it is amazing how they get it all done. I feel lucky, as I get to focus on the pest management and other production activities throughout the season,” she noted.

Symmes maintains there has to be a lot of communication back and forth between the growers and PCAs and herself. “And within each question there is a deeper conversation,” she elaborated, “but it can get lost in the shuffle of running from one thing to the next. Everything is very time sensitive in agriculture; we don’t have control over weather and things that tend to drive pest population cycles.”

“So within each of those key pest management questions, there is a subset of questions:

How do we know that it is time?
Are we doing the right thing at the right time?
Are we using the right materials?
Are we considering the big picture?’”

“The other big key ingredient is follow-up—evaluating:

How did we do?
Did the treatment work?
Did it cause any potentially negative impacts that we weren’t aware of?
Did we have to come back and do something additional (after-the-fact)?
More questions about the treatment, time, and material.”
PCA Responsibilities (CA DPR)

And on any California Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) recommendation, there is a question before the last signature line, ‘Have you thought of any other alternatives before you make this application?’ IPM practitioners sometimes misunderstand this to mean, ‘Well they don’t want us to treat.’ But it is really an acknowledgement that we know how important all of our management tactics are,” Symmes noted.

“Cultural practices are important, pesticides are important, but knowledge is really the key ingredient. Growers and PCAs are knowledgeable, have explored the alternatives and know what is going on in this particular orchard block they are signing this legal document for. Honestly, I think we do a great job.”

“I think California has done a fantastic job with this,” said Symmes,”but is there room for improvement? I think there always is.”

California Ag Today2021-05-12T11:05:59-07:00January 7th, 2016|

Farmers are Asset Managers

By Brian German, Associate Editor

Richard Casias, principal scientist and managing member at RCC Group, LLC, an environmental management consulting company based in Davis, expressed his deep respect for the Valley’s local farmers’ positive outlook, “What I really appreciate about these individuals is farmers are true asset managers. Their goal is to work efficiently, effectively and bring a good investment off the land they are managing.”

RCC Group’s primary customer base of almond, walnut and pistachio growers approach Casias by introducing their asset, emphasizing ongoing preservation of that asset, and making certain that the inputs are positive, and losses are minimized, like any company. With over 30 years of experience in earth science and environmental management, Casias attributes his expertise to this ongoing learning process.

Casias has traveled nationwide, including Hawaii, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico and Texas, promoting environmental management systems and conducting environmental and water resource investigations. “I’ve been advocating for an environmental management system for farming operations. Australia and other countries have been doing it, and it is completely applicable here in Central Valley farming operations.”

Casias continued, “So many of the farming practices that are being done are not getting farmers the positive feedback and validation as good land and water stewards. That is part of my motivation—to make sure growers recognize and take credit for all the extra work that they do to make their farming operations successful.”

When it comes to increasing water regulations on farming, Casias commented, “I try to remind growers that public scrutiny is not solely focused on agriculture as the villain; there are a number of people [and industries] using these natural resources.”

California Ag Today2016-05-31T19:26:59-07:00January 7th, 2016|

New Dietary Guidelines for Healthy Eating

HHS and USDA Release New Dietary Guidelines to Encourage Healthy Eating Patterns to Prevent Chronic Diseases

Secretary of Health and Human Services Sylvia M. Burwell and Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack TODAY released updated nutritional guidelines that encourage Americans to adopt a series of science-based recommendations to improve how they eat to reduce obesity and prevent chronic diseases like Type 2 diabetes, hypertension, and heart disease. The 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans is the nation’s trusted resource for evidence-based nutrition recommendations and serves to provide the general public, as well as policy makers and health professionals with the information they need to help the public make informed choices about their diets at home, school, work and in their communities.

The newly released 8th edition of the Dietary Guidelines reflects advancements in scientific understanding about healthy eating choices and health outcomes over a lifetime. This edition recognizes the importance of focusing not on individual nutrients or foods in isolation, but on the variety of what people eat and drink—healthy eating patterns as a whole—to bring about lasting improvements in individual and population health.

“The Dietary Guidelines for Americans is one of many important tools that help to support a healthier next generation of Americans,” said Secretary Vilsack. “The latest edition of the Dietary Guidelines provides individuals with the flexibility to make healthy food choices that are right for them and their families and take advantage of the diversity of products available, thanks to America’s farmers and ranchers.”

The specific recommendations fit into five overarching guidelines in the new edition:

1. Follow a healthy eating pattern across the lifespan. Eating patterns are the combination of foods and drinks that a person eats over time.

2. Focus on variety, nutrient-dense foods, and amount

3. Limit calories from added sugars and saturated fats, and reduce sodium intake

4. Shift to healthier food and beverage choices

5. Support healthy eating patterns for all

Healthy eating patterns include a variety of nutritious foods like vegetables, fruits, grains, low-fat and fat-free dairy, lean meats and other protein foods and oils, while limiting saturated fats, trans fats, added sugars and sodium. A healthy eating pattern is adaptable to a person’s taste preferences, traditions, culture and budget.

Importantly, the guidelines suggest Americans should consume:

1. A variety of vegetables, including dark green, red and orange, legumes (beans and peas), starchy and other vegetables

2. Fruits, especially whole fruits

3. Grains, at least half of which are whole grains

4. Fat-free or low-fat dairy, including milk, yogurt, cheese, and/or fortified soy beverages

5. A variety of protein foods, including seafood, lean meats and poultry, eggs, legumes (beans and peas), soy products, and nuts and seeds

6. Oils, including those from plants: canola, corn, olive, peanut, safflower, soybean, and sunflower. Oils also are naturally present in nuts, seeds, seafood, olives, and avocados.

Further, Americans should be encouraged to consume:

1. Less than 10 percent of calories per day from added sugars. ChooseMyPlate.gov provides more information about added sugars, which are sugars and syrups that are added to foods or beverages when they are processed or prepared. This does not include naturally occurring sugars such as those consumed as part of milk and fruits.

2. Less than 10 percent of calories per day from saturated fats. The Nutrition Facts label can be used to check for saturated fats. Foods that are high in saturated fat include butter, whole milk, meats that are not labeled as lean, and tropical oils such as coconut and palm oil.

3. Less than 2,300 milligrams (mg) per day of sodium for people over the age of 14 years and less for those younger. The Nutrition Facts label is a helpful tool to check for sodium, especially in processed foods like pizza, pasta dishes, sauces, and soups.

Based on a review of current scientific evidence on nutrition, the 2015 edition includes updated guidance on topics such as added sugars, sodium, and cholesterol and new information on caffeine. For example, the 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines is the first edition to:

1. Recommend a quantitative limit to consume less than 10 percent of calories from added sugars.

2. Reaffirm guidance about the core building blocks of a healthy lifestyle that have remained consistent over the past several editions

3. Suggest there is still work to be done to encourage more Americans to follow the recommendations outlined in the Dietary Guidelines.

The 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines continues the nation’s dependence on California agriculture, which includes more than 400 commodities. According to the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) in 2014, the state produced nearly half of US-grown fruits, nuts and vegetables. Across the nation, US consumers regularly purchase several crops produced solely in California.

California’s top-ten valued commodities (USDA/NASS Crop Year Report 2014):

* Milk — $9.4 billion

* Almonds — $5.9 billion

* Grapes — $5.2 billion

* Cattle, Calves — $3.7 billion

* Strawberries — $2.5 billion

* Lettuce — $2 billion

* Walnuts — $1.8 billion

* Tomatoes — $1.6 billion

* Pistachios — $1.6 billion

* Hay — $1.3 billion

The 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans is available at dietaryguidelines.gov.USDA has also released updates for consumers on ChooseMyPlate.gov, and new resources will soon be available on Health.gov from HHS that will help health professionals support their clients and patients in making healthy choices.

The Dietary Guidelines is required under the 1990 National Nutrition Monitoring and Related Research Act, which states that every 5 years, the U.S. Departments of Health and Human Services (HHS) and of Agriculture (USDA) must jointly publish a report containing nutritional and dietary information and guidelines for the general public. The statute requires that the Dietary Guidelines be based on the preponderance of current scientific and medical knowledge.

California Ag Today2021-05-12T11:17:15-07:00January 7th, 2016|

Farmers Generous to Food Banks

By Laurie Greene, Editor

California farmers are stepping up to supply fresh fruits, vegetables and meat products to the state’s network of food banks as part of the Farm to Family program. Jim Bates, chief financial officer of Fowler Packing in Fresno County, said “It’s a program we’ve been supporting for 20 years, starting with donations of peaches, plums and nectarines.”

“Unfortunately, 20 to 50 percent of the product we grow doesn’t make it to the marketplace,” Bates explained, “sometimes because of a very small cosmetic blemish. Bates says farmers like him really want to take advantage of these unmarketable crops and help the working poor in the Valley. “We don’t want to dump this product; we definitely want to donate it. So, we have developed contacts with the food banks and found ways to transport our products in cardboard bins, plastic bins—whatever they can take—and get it to them.”

Jim Bates, chief financial officer, Fowler Packing

Bates noted that Fowler Packing, which farms and ships tree fruit, including mandarins, and table grapes, is doing well, and the company would like to pay it back. “We have made big investments over the years; we’ve retooled our packing house, our mandarin and table grape operations are doing well, and we’ve had good times. We want to give back to the local community that has been so good in supporting us year in and year out.”

Andy Souza, president and CEO of the Community Food Bank in Fresno, noted the dramatically increased produce and meat donations from farming companies, “from almost 19 million pounds a year to almost 40 million pounds in the last three years. And yet, in our service area, we are only meeting about two-thirds of the need. We serve all five counties from the southern end of Kern County, including Tulare, Kings, and Fresno Counties, all the way to Madera County, and the need just continues to grow. We have seen the drought; we have seen the effect of changing commodities; and the impact on farm labor is a very natural part of an economy.”

Souza said Community Food Bank’s connection with those in need is critically important. “It is not just doubling the amount of pounds,” he elaborated, “it is the fact that for so many of the families we serve, we are the only source of fresh produce for them. And the result of not getting fresh produce is what we have seen in each of our five counties: childhood obesity rates over 40 percent.”

“It is rewarding for us to be the vehicle that actually touches the lives that these farming families are supporting. Without their support and donations, it would be an empty warehouse. We, in turn, provide the connection to our families in need. Our staff knows, on a very personal basis, the opportunity to hand fresh food, fresh produce, to families knowing it will be on their tables that evening,” Souza noted.

Souza said quite candidly, he has learned over the last five years, all he has to do is ask the farming industry for help. “The farming community, the ranching community—agriculture in general—is very giving if we ask. We have also learned you don’t ask the packing shed in August. By the time August rolls around, first, they are just incredibly busy; and secondly, they made those decisions in February. So we are learning and looking to the industry for great support and great help. We have been able to make an incredible partnership with the agricultural community here in the Valley.”

Souza said cash donations from companies and from the general public also help immensely because “the ability we have to stretch financial donations is incredible. For every dollar that is donated, we can provide seven meals for a family. If folks would love to come alongside us, we can be reached at communityfoodbank.net. There is a “Donate Now” button there, and we would love the opportunity for folks to partner with us. Right now we have just over 8,000 partners each year and we would love to see that number grow to 10-, 12- or even 15,000.”

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Links

California Association of Food Banks (CAFB)

Community Food Bank

Farm to Family

Fowler Packing

California Ag Today2021-05-12T11:17:15-07:00January 6th, 2016|

USDA Official Talks TPP in CA

USDA Official Talks TPP in California

By Brian German, Associate Editor

United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Under Secretary for Farm and Foreign Agricultural Services Michael Scuse held a roundtable at the California Farm Bureau Office in Sacramento with California ag leaders in December to discuss the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement. “The reason we came out here now is the Trans-Pacific Partnership is finalized and the text has been released. We wanted to meet with the representatives of the different commodity groups to get their take on the agreement,” said Scuse. “It was a very good, interesting meeting,” he noted.

While not all industries are behind the TPP, Scuse said, “Agriculture, as a whole, is very supportive of the TPP. There were a couple of concerns about sanitary and phytosanitary issues and about how other countries may address those going forward. California ag leaders asked us to put together a fact sheet on these phytosanitary issues, labor, and other topics, so they have some talking points to converse with their constituents as well as their representatives in Congress.”

To make this trade agreement law, Scuse explained, “We are hoping Congress will take this up as soon as they possibly can. Every day we delay getting approval on TPP from Congress puts our producers at a disadvantage. The sooner we get this approved, the better it will be for all our farmers and ranchers across the United States,” he noted.

For California, the leading agricultural state, shipping more than $23 billion worth of food and agricultural products in 2014, time is expensive.

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Links:

USDA Farm and Foreign Agricultural Services helps to keep America’s farmers and ranchers in business as they face the uncertainties of weather and markets. They deliver commodity, credit, conservation, disaster, and emergency assistance programs that help improve the stability and strength of the agricultural economy.

Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement, “Economy, Water, Trade and Labor were Big Topics at 32nd Agribusiness Conference.”

California Farm Bureau Federation

California Ag Today2021-05-12T11:05:59-07:00January 4th, 2016|

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