ALRB on Entering Private Property

ALRB on Entering Private Property to Educate Workers:  Is the ALRB going too far?

By Patrick Cavanaugh, Deputy Editor

The California Agricultural Labor Relations Board (ALRB) wants to enter private property farmland for the purpose of educating farmworkers on their rights as farm laborers in California. Of course, farmers want their workers to be happy and content with their work and that means knowing and understanding their rights as farmworkers.

“But the ALRB is going too far,” said attorney Ron Barsamian of Barsamian & Moody in Fresno, which represents many agricultural businesses throughout California in labor and  employment law.

“I wanted to get into some pragmatic issues that I feel have not been considered. For instance, the lack of efficiency in trying to get access to all these different ranches is just not going to work,” said Barsamian. “You are going to have staff tied up forever. I don’t think they have taken into account the different geographical areas, the different ag sectors. For instance, are you going to spend as much time educating two or three people working at a dairy as you would a crew of 50-60 people?”

2016-05-31T19:27:06-07:00October 15th, 2015|

Winegrape Grower Earns SIP Certification

Dana Merrill, Winegrape Grower Earns SIP Certification

By Patrick Cavanaugh, Deputy Editor

 

Dana Merrill is a seventh-generation farmer of an eighth-generation Californian farming family and president of Mesa Vineyard Management, a premium vineyard management service on the Central Coast. A graduate from Cal Poly with an Agriculture Business degree, He is a member of the Merrill Family Estates, an estate that produces premium winegrapes for its Pomar Junction Winery, and he’s extremely involved with the Paso Robles Wine Community.

Recently, his winegrape growing operation earned the Sustainability In Practice (SIP) certification.

“We worked very hard to attain this certification,” Merrill said. “Most of the changes were positive moves. It’s not meant to be a penalizing certification, but there are specific restrictions. For example, we don’t use any Class I restricted materials. If the US Environmental Protection Agency has commented about a substance, ‘Hey, that is Class I. It may be legal, but as an herbicide, it has a tendency to leach into the groundwater,’ then the SIP system won’t allow it. There are times when I’ve said, ‘Boy, I wish I could use a certain material,’ but there are some I simply cannot use in order to qualify for the certification.”SIP Certified

Merrill continues, “The SIP also takes into account how you treat your labor. For example, more ‘points’ are awarded if you offer a benefit program, continuing education support, a retirement program, or health insurance. These days, everybody has to offer health insurance, but points are awarded for that, even though some of us have offered it for over 20 years. Points are also earned for best-practice management whether it is fertility management, soil probes, or having water meters on all your wells and using the information to manage how you irrigate. The idea is to encourage folks to do more and raise the bar.”

“Being SIP-certified helps with marketing too,” noted Merrill. “If you get the SIP seal on a bottle of wine, a consumer can go be assured of the excellent quality of that product.”

“It is marketing in the sense that we are always selling ourselves to the consumer,” Merrill explained. “You know, the consumer may ask, ‘Why should I buy a bottle of SIP wine? Why should I buy California wine?’ I think that branding or labeling conveys a message to customers about what is important to them. Some consumers are very environment-oriented; others are looking primarily for quality. Your label conveys that message. There are customers to whom it is less important, but I see its significance growing. I would say 50% of the people who visit our tasting room find that label on an SIP-certified bottle of wine quite meaningful,” Merrill said.

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2016-05-31T19:27:07-07:00October 14th, 2015|

California Table Grape Commission

Kathleen Nave on the Table Grape Commission

By Charmayne Hefley, Associate Editor

Before the California Table Grape Commission was established in 1968, only 1.7 pounds of grapes were consumed per person annually, according to Kathleen Nave, president of the organization. She said the Table Grape Commission began at the request of growers working with California’s legislature to better promote grapes. Today’s annual consumption rate is 8 pounds of grapes per capita.

“I had talked to some of the founding fathers back in the late 50s, early 60s,” Nave said. “They told me there were so many changes happening in the world and in the retail environment at that time, they were afraid of losing the land their families had immigrated to from around the world. So they wanted to come together and pool a little bit of money from every box of grapes they sold to be overseen by the state of California and a board of table grape grower directors to increase demand for their product. “To this day, the Table Grape Commission is still governed by growers who are nominated by their peers in each district in which grapes are grown in the state,” Nave said, “and it is all overseen by the California Department of Food and Agriculture.”

While the Table Grape Commission continues to promote table grapes and to create a domestic demand for them, Nave said the Commission is reaching beyond this basic consumer base, to foreign consumers. “Everything we do is designed to create demand,” Nave said, “to get that retailer to put more California grapes on the shelves, to promote and advertise them more often, to encourage that importer to bring grapes in, and to get consumers to go into their grocery stores and ask, ‘Where are the California grapes?’”

2016-05-31T19:27:07-07:00October 12th, 2015|

3rd in a Series on Mental Health on Farm

Part 3 Mental Health on the Farm:

Isolation in Farm Country

Resources are provided at the end of this post.

In light of Mental Illness Awareness Week last week, Karen Markland, Division Manager for the Fresno County Department of Behavioral Health‘s Planning, Prevention and Supportive Services, talked extensively with California Ag Today Editor, Laurie Greene, about members of the local agricultural industry who could be going through significant emotional suffering due to the drought and environmental water restrictions impacting their livelihoods.

Editor: Is there anything unique about how farmers and farmworkers suffer from stress?

Markland: In our experience with farm-working populations, they have a couple of strikes against them. They are geographically isolated in rural areas; they are probably linguistically isolated as well, as their native language is typically not English; and, they are culturally isolated in that many of our cultures believe in not talking about sick minds or sick feelings. Plus there is transportation barriers. Our county is so large that it is very difficult for rural workers to receive any services. And so, we think it is a combination of things that discourage people from reaching out for help.

Editor: Are there financial issues or constraints?

Markland: What we have found is anytime we we use Mental Services Act dollars, we have to do it based on what the community wants. The stakeholders have brought up not a financial barrier, per se, but a transportation barrier. They tell us, “I can’t afford a car. I can’t afford the taxi from Kerman to Fresno or Parlier to Fresno.” They see it as a transportation barrier.

Editor: Is this population at risk?

Markland: There have at least two suicides in the agricultural community, a landowner and a farmworker. That is too many. It is unacceptable, but it has brought to light some uncomfortable subjects that we have to try to make more comfortable. When individuals feel that stressors become more difficult to manage, thoughts of wanting to harm themselves and not wanting to continue or to fight through, become stronger.

Editor: What can you do for people who feel this way?

 Markland: We are concerned about the farmworker who wakes up to such serious depression or anxiety and who has to fight through their day. That is no quality of life. So, we have a couple of resources. One that we are proud of right here in Fresno is the Central Valley Prevention Suicide Hotline 1-888-506-5991. This is a 24/7 hotline that has all language capabilities. So no matter what your language, we are here for you. This is a local number. The reason I keep saying local is that the person who picks up that phone call understands the culture of our valley—that we we have farmworkers facing dire drought conditions that others in California do not encounter with the same potential catastrophic loss; and the anxiety behind that, and the longevity of that—that it is not a one-week problem. This isn’t a breakup with a person; this is a long-term problem. So having local people manage the hotline is a wonderful resource.

Editor: Of course, farmers and farmworkers outside of Fresno County may have a similar resource in their counties. (Please refer to resources listed at the end of this article.) Could you tell us how successful has the Fresno County hotline been?

Markland: They are a crisis hotline; plus they are there just to help talk to people who are depressed or anxious. We do “talk-down” calls and rescue calls. This hotline has saved over 53 lives in active rescues in the last 12 months. Individuals have called the hotline as their last resort, and we’ve been able to activate emergency medical services and save their lives. In addition, we do follow-up calls.

Editor: What about follow-up calls?

Markland: If a person calls our hotline, and they have a safely plan, and the staff on the call feels they are safe, they’ll do a follow-up call in two days. Staff will ask if they have stuck with their safety plan, how they are feeling, and if they accessed the support systems they wanted to, because we really are dedicated to having a healthy community.

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. 

2016-05-31T19:27:07-07:00October 12th, 2015|

Outlook on California Poultry

Bill Mattos: Outlook for California Poultry Industry

By Charmayne Hefley, Associate Editor

California’s poultry industry has a positive outlook for the coming year despite the recent outbreak of the highly pathogenic avian influenza plaguing the rest of the nation’s poultry industry. Bill Mattos, president of the California Poultry Federation, said the coming year will see chicken overtaking beef.

“We’re learning from a lot of economists that we are going to have an exciting year for poultry next year and into the future,” Mattos said. “It looks like chicken is taking over beef next year, and all of poultry will be ahead of the red meats. We love our beef and pork friends, but we’re passing them. It looks like the healthfulness of chicken and the capacity to grow locally—everything in California—is looking good for the poultry industry. And we’re excited. We think the chicken and turkey industries will have a good year coming up.”

And although the price of corn is still higher in California versus nationally, Mattos said this industry is still doing well. “We still pay about a dollar or more a bushel for corn in California. But prices are outstanding compared to what they were two or three years ago, so our companies are making some money.”

With the flyways, or bird migration, coming back this fall, Mattos said the California poultry industry is prepared with increased biosecurity on their farms and ranches to prevent an avian influenza outbreak. Mattos said, “It’s very important that we make sure our companies are locking down their facilities—keeping visitors off and maintaining a biosecurity that’s first in the nation—because any type of bird flu that could invade here and spread would devastate the marketplace.”

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California Poultry Federation

2016-05-31T19:27:07-07:00October 9th, 2015|

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|

Food Security – Inspections on Imports, Part 2

Rachel Martin on Food Security – Inspections on Imports, Part 2

By Charmayne Hefley, Associate Editor

 

This is the final segment of a two-part series with national chairman of Homeland Security for the National Federation of Republican Women, Rachel Martin on food security  – Inspections on imports into the United States.

Due to budget cuts, as reported in Part 1, the Department of Homeland Security inspects only 1 in every 60 containers arriving in the U.S. This ratio brings up two issues, according to Martin: (1) the threat of terrorism and (2) concern over food safety. Failure to properly inspect imported containers exposes American citizens to toxins in imported goods that don’t meet the same regulatory standards as food products produced in the United States.

“When you’re doing things en masse,” Martin said, “and the [containers with imported food] are not being inspected, many dangers can come into the country that can kill people—especially the elderly and kids because we know they are more susceptible to bacteria and chemical toxins.”

While she is aware of the potential for accidents and mistakes in food safety, Martin said risking the safety of our country and citizens by inspecting only a limited number of imported containers to save money is more harmful than helpful. “Accidents are going to happen with any food,” Martin said, “even with when I cook for myself in my own kitchen. I may undercook my meal, and there is a possibility I can get food poisoning that way.”

Martin said the Obama administration’s budget cuts have hurt Homeland Security’s inspection rate on food imports. “Number one, it’s not right, there are so many regulations here that we have to deal with,” Martin said. “And number two, it’s wrong that these containers are not inspected because people can become very ill and be killed by food toxins that come into the country in the absence of inspection. ‘Not to mention, the terrorists, bombs, weapons and anything else that is dangerous that could be on those containers.”

 

2016-05-31T19:27:08-07:00October 5th, 2015|

Import Food Safety, Part 1

Import Food Safety: Only 1 in 60 Containers Is Inspected

By Charmayne Hefley, Associate Editor

 

This is the first in a two-part series with Rachel Martin, the national chairman of Homeland Security for the National Federation of Republican Women, on import food safety in the United States.

Food safety is a crucial element in the production of food, and many government regulations exist to keep our food safe for people to eat. Yet, Martin explained, those regulations don’t necessarily reach imported food. Specifically, she said, “Due to budget cuts under the Obama administration, only 1 in 60 containers arriving in the U.S. is inspected by Homeland Security.”

Martin’s initial reaction to this statistic was to consider the possibility that terrorists could smuggle in weapons, chemicals and themselves into the United States.

“The second thing that came to mind was food safety,” Martin said because as we grow less food domestically, we import more food. “We’re already overregulated here in California—not only in the United States, but it’s worse here—with mandated inspections, regulations on our food and regulated chemicals, spraying, pesticides and so forth. Yet when food enters the United States, the majority of it isn’t even inspected.”

Martin said her own daughter has been affected by the risks of importing food that is not inspected by or grown under strict U.S. standards set for the United States.

“My daughter’s first job was at a local water park when she was 17-years-old, slicing limes to make juice for the kids there,” said Martin. “The limes were imported from Mexico. My daughter developed a rash on her arm from chemicals that were applied to the limes that looked like she had third-degree burns. It went away in a couple of months, but to this day—she’s now 23—it  returns on a random basis.”

2016-05-31T19:27:09-07:00October 1st, 2015|

Table Grape Nutrition

Kathleen Nave on Table Grape Nutrition

By Charmayne Hefley, Associate Editor

Table Grape AdAs consumers have demonstrated a consistent desire to eat more healthfully, food marketing campaigns are increasingly focused on the nutritional benefits of their products. Kathleen Nave, president of the California Table Grape Commission, said the Commission has launched a global campaign to remind consumers about the versatility of grapes, table grape nutrition and why we love them.Table Grape Commission Logo_Page_1

“The campaign we are fielding in the U.S. is the same campaign we are running in 25 markets around the world,” Nave said. “And if you watch the campaign on the television, you will see it portrays the familiar beauty, simplicity, versatility and healthfulness of eating grapes. Everything we do is designed to remind consumers around the world why they love grapes and how easily grapes fit in a healthy diet.”

“Grapes have significant antioxidants and nutrients,” she continued. “And most importantly, families love them. It’s easy to serve grapes either as a snack or as an addition to favorite dishes like salads, pizza, sauces and yogurt. There are lots of ways you can have grapes in addition to eating them fresh out of hand,” Nave said.

 

2016-05-31T19:27:09-07:00September 25th, 2015|

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