April 11, 2022
FARM BUREAU THIS WEEK
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In This Edition:
Calendar
Meetings This Week
Farm Bureau Benefits
County
State
Labor & Employment
Youth /FFA/4H
Classifieds NEW JOBS!
Other News
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April 29-May 1 Home & Garden Show
May 11 Ag in the Classroom's Farm Day
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Apr 11 7:30am Taxpayers Assn Online
Apr 12 9:00am Board of Supervisors Agenda
Apr 12 5:00pm Placerville City Council Agenda
Apr 14 8:30am Planning Commission Agenda
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Avis: Stay grounded and spend less
Renting a car for your next trip might be cheaper than flying if you're 1) purchasing airfare less than a month before departure 2) traveling with a group or 3) flying to or from a small airport. Your member-only discount of up to 30% off Avis rentals helps too! Visit Avis.com/[STATE URL] to learn more.
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Budget Truck Rental: More space means more savings
Rent Budget’s largest truck to get the biggest bang for your buck! After applying Farm Bureau’s 20% member discount, a 26-footer gives you roughly twice the storage per dollar compared to smaller rigs.
Advance reservation is required; book online at BudgetTruck.com/FarmBureau or call 1-800-566-8422 Not available in Alaska or Hawaii.
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Water supplies ‘sufficient’
“We have sufficient supplies this year,” Operations Director Dan Corcoran told the El Dorado Irrigation District Board of Directors March 28.
Though dry conditions have prevailed the last three months, “The residual effects of December precipitation have continued to benefit runoff and base flows in watershed streams,” Corcoran wrote in a report to the board on 2022 water supplies.
Caples Lake is at 82% of capacity as of March 22 and Silver Lake is 46% but will top off by the time all the alpine snow melts. (continued)
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Herbs and shrubs and trees … oh my! Master Gardeners plant sale just around the corner
More than 3,800 plants will be available for purchase at the UCCE Master Gardeners of El Dorado County plant sales April 16 & 30. The sales will be held from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. both days at the Sherwood Demonstration Garden on Folsom Lake College – El Dorado Center campus in Placerville.
The April 16 sale will feature edible plants, including herbs, cilantro, onions and eggplant, while shoppers on April 30 will select ornamental plants like trees, shrubs and succulents. (continued)
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Preserve It! Tastier and cheaper by preserving
Have you been to the grocery store lately and seen the drastic price increases and smaller packages? Food is now a higher-priced necessity than ever before. Now is the time to take charge of your grocery bills. Recognizing that your freezer is one of the best assets you have in the kitchen will help you to get the most from it.
The UCCE Master Food Preservers of El Dorado County can help you learn the basics of freezing food, drying food and canning food (with both boiling water canners and pressure canners). Learning safe and effective preservation methods can help you stretch your food dollar and minimize food waste.
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The Arts: Home gardening more important than ever
Every spring, The Hubster and I put in a straw bale garden. For the uninitiated, a straw bale garden (SBG) is a garden that uses composted straw as a planting medium.
A SBG is drought tolerant, relatively weed free, requires little bending once established and can provide an abundant harvest of veggies. Plus, many enjoyable hours telling your friends about your crazy garden adventure. (For a “how to” article on SBGs, read my previous column at tinyurl.com/LairdSBG19.)
This year’s artful garden adventure ran into a few hiccups. I want to share these because every gardener may be impacted. (continued)
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Lake levels as of Mar 30-31
Stumpy Meadows Percent full 100%
Folsom Reservoir Percent full 59%
Union Valley Reservoir Percent full 84%
Loon Lake Percent full 54%
Ice House Percent full 79%
Lake Aloha Percent full 77%
Caples Lake Percent full 86%
Echo Lake Percent full 20%
Silver Lake Percent full 48%
Sly Park Percent Full 81%
American River Flow 809.6 cfs (down from 965.4)
xx% indicates - reduction xx% indicates - increase xx% unchanged
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Appointments
Governor Newsom has appointed and reappointed the following members to the State Board of Food and Agriculture:
• Rachelle Arizmendi has been reappointed. She has served on the Board since 2017 and has been a Member of the Sierra Madre City Council and Mayor.
• Don Cameron has been reappointed, where he has served since 2014. Cameron has been General Manager and Vice President of Terranova Ranch Inc. since 1981
• Jenet DeCosta has been appointed to Board. DeCosta has been Chief of Staff at Driscoll’s since 2016.
• Michael Gallo has been reappointed. Gallo has served since 2012 and is the Chief Executive Officer of Joseph Gallo Farms, maker of Joseph Farms Cheese and Co- Owner.
• Eric Holst has been reappointed and has served since 2012. Holst has been Associate Vice President for Natural Climate Solutions at the Environmental Defense Fund since 2021.
• Glenda Humiston has been appointed. Humiston has been Vice President of Agriculture and Natural Resources for the University of California since 2015.
Bryce Lundberg has been reappointed to the California State Board of Food and Agriculture, where he has served since 2013. Lundberg has been Vice President of Agriculture at Lundberg Family Farms since 2000 and Partner and Owner at B&E Lundberg since 1984.
• David Mancera has been appointed. Mancera has been Director of Kitchen Table Advisors since 2018 and Principal Consultant of Mancera Consulting Group since 2014.
• Michelle Passero has been appointed. Passero has been Director of Climate and Nature Based Solutions at the Nature Conservancy since 2008.
• Frank Salazar has been appointed. Salazar has been President of Vencer Public Affairs and Strategy since 2020.
• Joy Anne Sterling has been reappointed, where she has served since 2013. Sterling has been Chief Executive Officer at Iron Horse Vineyards since 2006, where she was Director of Sales and Marketing from 1985 to 2006.
• Patricia Stock has been appointed to the California State Board of Food and Agriculture. Stock has been Dean of the College of Agriculture at California State University, Chico since 2021.
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Climate
The California Air Resources Board held a workshop last week on the role of methane emission reduction projects and the low carbon fuel standard in California. The workshop included presentations from both the dairy and livestock sector, the Air Resources Board, community groups and environmental justice advocates. The hearing can be viewed here.
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Fertilizers
The Department of Food and Agriculture has announced a vacancy on the Fertilizer Inspection Advisory Board. The term of office for board members is up to three years and will fill an unfinished board term of service until October 14, 2022. Applicants must hold a current fertilizing materials license or be a representative of a licensed firm. Interested applicants should submit a resume and a completed Questionnaire that can be found here by April 15, 2022 to: Brittnie.Williams@cdfa.ca.gov or CDFA/ Feed, Fertilizer and Livestock Drugs Regulatory Services Branch/ Attn: Brittnie Williams/ 1220 N Street Sacramento, CA 95814.
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Forestry and Wildfire
CalForests hosted its Annual Conference last week in Sacramento. The headlining session on Monday featured former Governor Jerry Brown and former CAL FIRE Chief Ken Pimlott discussing the Venado Declaration. Issued in November 2021, the Venado Declaration states that California must treat every forested acre and that forest health funding and investment needs to match that of suppression work. Governor Brown was contrite about the challenge faced to change the narrative inside the Capitol where forest health is thought of in an outdated modality of anti logging, with an acknowledgment that it will be a challenge to overcome those mindsets, particularly with urban elected officials.
Tuesday’s session featured a Legislative Panel attended by Assemblymembers Luz Rivas, Kelly Seyarto, and Jim Wood, and Senator John Laird. Following up on Governor Brown’s thoughts, Assembly member Wood stated that he has been working on legislation to support the productive usage of biomass for energy and other product purposes but is routinely challenged by powerful environmental lobbying groups that oppose everything en masse. Senator Laird continued expressing the challenge that forest health and resilience efforts face in Sacramento but expressed optimism that a reliance on updated fire science have changed the nature of the discussion from a purely emotional one to a reasoned approach that relies on best science.
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Gasoline Tax Relief
Assembly member Kevin Kiley’s AB 1638 passed from Assembly Transportation Committee on March 30, 2022 but came out of Committee as a very different bill than what he introduced. AB 1638 would create a six month moratorium on the collection of California gas tax, equal to $0.51 per gallon. Last week, we reported on the Newsom Administration’s $9 billion strategy for high gas price relief strategy. Assembly member Kiley’s bill rang popular with the general public that called into the hearing. However, unrelenting opposition from the building trades and local government that rely on the gas tax to fund road maintenance programs proved influential, not in killing the bill but by basically achieving the same result.
While the bill was being heard, Assemblymember Alex Lee proffered an amendment to the bill, through an unusual motion to gut and amend the entire bill in the midst of being heard. The amendment gutted AB 1638’s language and turned the bill into a tax on gasoline refiners. The bill passed out of Committee as amended by Assembly member Lee. It is not clear if Assembly member Kiley will re- amend or decline to proceed with the bill. Assembly member Kiley may take solace in the Committee analysis that was not particularly kind to whether the bill would actually meet its stated goals. The Committee noted that:
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No Guarantee that Tax Break Would Result in Lower Consumer Gas Prices. Available evidence suggests that lower excise taxes could result in lower retail prices. However, the exact effect on retail prices is uncertain, and it is unclear how much of the tax holiday, if any, would be passed through to prices at the pump and actually benefit consumers.
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Does Not Address Larger Problems. A tax holiday does not address larger problems such as price gouging by gas suppliers, ensuring money goes back to consumers, or making viable alternatives such as electric vehicles affordable to lower income people, or helping to improve the state’s transit system.
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Backfill Amount Would Not Entirely Cover Lost Revenues. The projected amount of gas excise tax revenues that would be lost during a six month holiday is approximately $4.04 billion. This bill proposes to backfill the lost revenues with General Fund dollars equivalent to one - half of the amount of gas tax revenues collected in 2020 - 21, which amounts to $3.27 billion. This would leave a shortfall of nearly $800 million — effectively reducing the amount of funding available for transportation projects.
As such, without the amendments, AB 1638 likely would have died at the Assembly Transportation Committee hearing, but Assembly member Kiley would have been able to state that Democrats voted against a tax cut. Assembly member Lee saved the bill from a defeat but also stole Assembly member Kiley’s political thunder.
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Insurance
Last week, the California State Senate Committee on Insurance held an Informational Hearing titled Wildfire Resilience: Innovation in Mitigation. The hearing focused on recent proposed rulemaking from the California Department of Insurance (CDI) that seeks to bring risk modeling into the rate approval process.
On February 25, 2022, CDI announced formal rulemaking regarding “Mitigation in Rating Plans and Wildfire Risk Models.”
Among other things, these proposed regulations would require
insurers to incorporate the mitigation factors identified by the Safer From Wildfire interagency partnership (discussed previously) into their rating plans. The hearing featured testimony from CDI staff, from insurers, and from Cal OES.
CDI staff testified that insurer - initiated non - renewals decreased 10% in 2020 over 2019. Also in 2020, under the authority of SB 824 (Chapter 616, Statutes of 2018), the IC issued one - year moratoriums against non - renewal that covered 2.4 million homes due to the record breaking 4.3 million acre 2020 wildfire season. This brings the three - year total of homes protected by moratorium to over 4 million.
CDI also reports policies for the insurer of last resort, the FAIR Plan, which began growing sharply in the fall of 2018, has slowed. Despite growing in market share for the second straight year, the 241,466 FAIR policies in force were only 3% of the overall statewide residential property insurance market.
CDI reports commitments from Farmers, Allstate, and the California State Automobile Association – the #2, 3, and 4 biggest insurers in the state by market share – to increase the amount of new homeowner's policies written and cease or limit non - renewals. Further, progress is reported on providing discounts to homeowners that harden their homes. CDI reports that premium discounts of up to 20% for wildfire - hardened homes are now offered by several companies.
Next, the hearing detailed the three areas where CDI seeks to impact rates through mitigation measures, with the key witness from United Policyholders testifying about: Protecting the Structure, Protecting the Immediate Surroundings, and Community Mitigation.
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Protecting the Structure. (1) Class - A Fire rated roof, (2) a 5 foot ember - resistant zone around the home, (3) noncombustible exterior wall materials from the ground level to 6 inches high, (4) ember resistant vents, (5) double pane windows or added shutters, and (6) enclosed eaves (soffits).
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Protecting the Immediate Surroundings. (1) Cleared vegetation and debris from under decks, (2) Removal of combustible sheds and other outbuildings from the immediate surrounding of the home, to at least 30 feet, and (3) Defensible space compliance with state and local ordinances.
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Community Mitigation. (1) Clearly defined boundary and a local risk assessment done in consultation with a local or state fire agency, (2) an identified evacuation route clear of vegetative overgrowth, and evacuation contingency plans; (3) clear funding sources to implement community mitigation activities and meet risk reduction goals; and (4) integrated and updated local planning documents pertinent to community wildfire risk.
Also, witnesses from the insurers discussed the proposed regulations require rating plans and wildfire risk models be subject to public inspection, including records, data, algorithms, computer programs and other information as the IC may request. Insurers are concerned about trade secret and intellectual property protection, while the IC hopes to create more transparency in rate creation to afford opportunities for specific mitigation related premium discounts. Further, CDI aims to have insurers provide policyholders with their parcel risk scores, and an explanation that includes mitigation measures that could lower the score. The proposal would also provide policyholders an opportunity to contest their risk score.
Overall, the hearing provided an overview of the proposed actions that property owners and communities can undertake to impact their access to premium discounts through hardening activities. Testimony examined emerging technology to increase fire surveillance capabilities, with the goal of detecting wildfires sooner after ignition and bolstering the efforts of fire crews to respond to fires while they are small and before they reach communities. It also heard from a technology created to impact insurance product purchasing decisions to guard against wildfire risk:
Parametric insurance structures offer payouts to local or state agencies based on unique triggers such as the number of red flag warnings in a year or whether a fire burns within a certain designated geographic area, regardless of the losses it causes. You can view the March 17, 2022, Senate Insurance Committee hearing at the Senate Media Archives here.
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Transportation
Last month, CAFB joined a large coalition to support AB 2406 (Aguiar - Curry – D). This bill would prohibit an intermodal marine equipment provider from imposing per diem, detention, or demurrage charges on an intermodal motor carrier and beneficial cargo owners. Under ordinary circumstances, these fees are designed to encourage the efficient use of containers. However, during our recent and ongoing port congestion crisis, late charges have been imposed on California businesses by international ocean carriers even when containers cannot be returned due to circumstances not within the control of the importer, exporter or trucker. While detention and demurrage fees have increased across the globe, ocean carriers are charging two to ten times the fees in Los Angeles and Long Beach versus other major ports worldwide. The bill would help alleviate the pressure that these fees put on California businesses and attempt to address one of the many issues facing our ports. The bill has not been assigned a hearing date, if you would like to urger the Chair to set this bill, please use this link and join our coalition efforts.
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Water
Governor Newsom issued Executive Order N-7-22 last week to address the drought. Specific to agriculture the executive order prohibits a county, city, or any other public agency from approving a permit for a new groundwater well or altering an existing well without approval from the local Groundwater Sustainability Agency. The GSA must determine the new well or the alteration of an existing well would not be inconsistent with the GSP and would not interfere with existing nearby wells. The executive order does not apply to domestic wells producing two acre feet per year, or public water supply systems.
Additionally, to facilitate groundwater recharge projects during high water flows, the executive order directs the State Water Resources Control Board and regional water quality control boards to prioritize water right permits, water quality certs., waste discharge requirements and conditional waivers.
Lastly, the Department of Water Resources is directed in the executive order to create and implement a mulit- year water transfer program pilot project that would acquire water from willing partners to store and move water to areas of need. A copy of the executive order can be found here.
The Voluntary Agreements Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed this week will result in the loss of about 35,000 acres of rice.
Signatories include water agencies supplying water to the Sacramento Valley, Westlands Water District on the Westside of the San Joaquin Valley, the city of Sacramento and surrounding suburbs, much of Southern California, and state and federal agencies. The MOU will leave more water in the rivers than the State Water Resources Control Board’s Bay - Delta Water Quality Control Plan (Unimpaired Flows Plan), while helping fish. The “voluntary agreements” have been an ongoing process with water districts, some environmental organizations, and state agencies to come up with an alternative regime for fixing the fish problem in our rivers, which avoids the hard path of litigation and eventual hard flow numbers being doled out to most water users. Not asked to participate in the development or the signing of the MOU was San Francisco, the Modesto and Turlock irrigation districts. The MOU can be found at:
A measure that would take a comprehensive approach to addressing California’s chronic water shortage will be heard in the Assembly Water, Parks and Wildlife Committee next week. AB 2078 (Heath Flora, R - Ripon) would take a balanced approach of providing flood protection and securing a safe and reliable supply of water for all Californians by expanding the Department of Water Resources Atmospheric Rivers research, mitigation, and climate forecasting program (AR Program) to include forecast - informed reservoir operations (FIRO) and integrate FIRO into the department’s water supply operations and flood and hazard risk mitigation efforts. The bill would also advance the department’s atmospheric river forecast capabilities and include refined climate projections for various environmental conditions. Farm Bureau is in support.
A measure to implement a recommendation in a recent report by the Planning and Conservation League (PCL) will be heard in the Assembly Water, Parks and Wildlife Committee next week. AB 2639 (Bill Quirk, D - Hayward) is one of several bills introduced to implement the PCL/water law professors’ recommendations contained in a recent report entitled, “Updating California Water Laws to Address Drought and Climate Change.” The measure would require the State Water Resources Control Board to adopt a final update to the Bay - Delta Water Quality Control Plan by December 31, 2023. The bill would prohibit the Water Board from approving any new water right permits or extensions of time for existing permits that would increase diversions to surface water storage from the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers watershed until the Bay - Delta Plan is complete. The proposed Sites Reservoir project is one example of an impacted water right. Farm Bureau opposes the measure unless amended to soften the date and remove the water rights moratorium language.
A measure that would require groundwater sustainability plans to address adverse impacts on domestic wells has been pulled from hearing by the author. AB 2857 (Rebecca Bauer Kahan, D - Orinda) would also require compensation of domestic well owners and water users for increased energy costs associated with deeper groundwater pumping and increased costs of water delivery from alternative water supplies. As previously stated, the California Water Code says that “sustainable groundwater management is best achieved locally.”
Farm Bureau continues working with others to see that the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act is locally managed and that SGMA has the time necessary, and the time specifically spelled out in statute to succeed before amended and interfered with.
SB 880 (John Laird, D - Santa Cruz) will be heard in the Senate Appropriations Committee this week. As previously reported, SB 880 would extend indefinitely the January 1, 2023, sunset of existing law authorizing those who divert 100 acre feet of water or more per year to be considered qualified to install and maintain their water diversion measurement devices if they take a course taught by the University of California Cooperative Extension and pass a proficiency test. Farm Bureau supports.
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Farm Labor Survey: Farm Bureau Needs Your Feedback! FELS’ parent organization, California Farm Bureau, is conducting an important survey with research partners at the University of California, Davis and Arizona State University and would appreciate your input. We expect the survey to take about 10 minutes to complete. The purpose of this survey is to collect information about how farmers are adapting to reduced farm worker availability, how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted farming operations (including costs), and the extent to which labor-saving technologies are helping mitigate problems stemming from labor shortages.
The results from the survey will be used for a statistical study and will be used to inform farmers, community leaders, policy makers, and other interested parties about how these issues are impacting the agricultural sector in California. Your responses will remain anonymous, confidential, and will be grouped together with everyone else’s for the statistical analysis. Your identity will never be recorded or revealed. The findings of the study will be made available to the public.
Here is a link to the online survey. The quality of this study depends on your involvement, and we hope you will take a few minutes to respond. Please feel free to click below to get started and don’t hesitate to reach out here if you have any troubles accessing the survey.
DLSE Shifts FLC License Processing to Enhance Speed of Approvals and Renewals: In an email of March 25 to California Farm Labor Contractor licensees, the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement announced it is shifting its farm labor contractor examination process to an on-line vendor in the expectation that examinee success will improve, DLSE will be able to more efficiently deploy its staff to manage new license applications and renewals and backlogs for testing will disappear in the coming months; you can read more here.
FELS and California Farm Bureau have worked with a number of FLCs to help resolve licensing issues with DLSE in the last 18 months, and we continue to be ready to assist you with these problems going forward. Please feel free to email us at info@fels.net or call us at 800-753-9073 with FLC licensing concerns.
Hiring Season is Here! Hiring season is here for California ag employers; are you ready?
Savvy FELS Newsletter subscribers will be! Subscribers can access at FELS’ website valuable resources on FELS' website:
· Hiring Resources including links to forms and checklists that can help make sure you don’t forget something when you’re hiring. (NOTE: Hiring Resources is exclusive FELS Newsletter subscriber website contest; please log in to your FELS website account for access.)
UPCOMING FELS TRAININGS & WEBINARS
April 29, 2022 (webinar): Employers' Compliance Requirements Under the California Privacy Rights Act (feat. Seth Mehrten, Barsamian & Moody): The California Privacy Right Act (CRPA) imposes new privacy requirements on employee data owned by employers who have annual revenues in excess of $25 million. Seth Mehrten of FELS Group Legal Services Program partner firm Barsamian & Moody explains these new employer requirements and offers strategies for compliance.
May 19, 2022 (webinar): Employers' Requirements and Enforcement with the California Agricultural Labor Relations Board (feat. ALRB Chair Victoria Hassid): Rights to protected concerted activity and other rights protected by the Agricultural Labor Relations Act (ALRA) apply to employees even in non-union workplaces. ALRB chair Victoria Hassid will offer insight into the Board's enforcement of these rights.
April 13, May 10 and June 7, 2022 (in-person training): Mandatory Produce Safety Training: The Food Safety Training Partnership, a cooperative effort of California Farm Bureau, Farm Employers Labor Service, and the Safe Food Alliance, is offering produce safety training required by the federal Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA). Trainings will be offered in-person in Santa Rosa, Escondido and Salinas. The $35 training fee is substantially supported by a grant from the California Department of Food and Agriculture.
FELS Webinar Recordings/Slides Available!
ICYMI (In Case You Missed It):
Video and presentation slides from many past FELS webinars is available at Webinars by Farm Employers Labor Service.
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UCCE Central Sierra 4-H April Newsletter
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NEW! Handyman wanted. Approx 2 days a week ongoing. General contractor knowledge & yard maintenance. Call Linda 919-4169
El Dorado County https://www.governmentjobs.com/careers/edcgov
Placerville City https://www.cityofplacerville.org/jobs
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El Dorado Ag In The Classroom has opportunities on several committees: Program, Finance, Development, and Marketing. If you have interest in serving as a volunteer on one of these please send an email here.
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Is there a story you'd like to share with our members? Let us know at admin@edcfb.com
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Why much of California’s top crop — almonds — has been purchased, but is sitting in storage
Scott Phippen looked up at the almond tree on his farm and said something farmers rarely say. “These trees appear to have a good crop on them. And we really don’t need a good crop,” said Phippen, a third-generation farmer who grows 2,500 acres of almonds within 20 miles of this tree. “We kind of need a mediocre crop.” Phippen’s dark humor was a response to the crisis that’s undercutting California’s largest agricultural commodity. The problem: Farmers are growing a record amount of almonds, but can’t get many of them to overseas markets. That’s a problem because the industry exports roughly 70% of what it grows and about 80% of that haul flows through the Port of Oakland, according to the Almond Board of California. Between August 2020 and February 2021, the state shipped 1.25 billion pounds of almonds. The problem is intensifying this year, as the state exported just 993 million pounds over a similar time frame. Growers don’t get paid until buyers receive their almonds, and now the nuts aren’t making it to their destination.
California water war peace treaty? Not quite
Dan Walters column: The holy grail of those involved in California’s decades-long political and legal battle over how the state’s water supply should be allocated has been some sort of master agreement. Last week, Gov. Gavin Newsom became the latest governor to claim progress on settling the conflict, announcing a $2.6 billion agreement between the state and some municipal and agricultural factions to reduce the amount of water taken from the Sacramento and San Joaquin river systems so that more can flow naturally and thus improve fish habitat. “We don’t have to choose between healthy ecosystems or a healthy economy,” Newsom said in a written statement. Perhaps, but we’ve heard that claim before. The “voluntary agreement,” as it’s dubbed, omits some of the water game’s biggest players, not only some San Joaquin Valley agricultural water districts but the City and County of San Francisco, which is one of the largest diverters of water via its Hetch Hetchy Dam. It also lacks support from environmental groups, which argue it doesn’t go far enough to protect salmon and steelhead habitat. Underlying the process is a long-running conflict over whether the state water board has the legal authority to reduce diversions by agricultural and municipal water agencies with senior water rights.
‘Superblooms of fungus’: Climate change is making valley fever worse [Los Angeles Times]
It was June 2020, and Shirley, a winemaker in Paso Robles, Calif., knew something was terribly wrong. He was going about his daily business when he doubled over with severe abdominal pain and a 103-degree fever. A doctor in the emergency room told him his left lung had collapsed. But what ailed Shirley, now 50, wasn’t COVID-19: It was valley fever. Officially known as coccidioidomycosis — or “cocci” for short — valley fever is a fungal infection that is transmitted in dust. In the United States, it has mostly plagued humans and animals in Arizona and California’s San Joaquin Valley, where the illness was first described as “San Joaquin Valley fever” more than a century ago. Cycles of extreme precipitation, along with worsening drought and heat, are creating more of the dangerous dust, researchers say, and worsening wildfires may also be fueling the spread. By the end of the century, valley fever may be a threat across the entire western United States, they say.
What to Know About the Bird Flu Outbreak [New York Times]
From Wyoming to Maine, an outbreak of the highly contagious bird flu has swept across farms and backyard flocks in the United States this year, prompting millions of chickens and turkeys to be culled. Better known as the bird flu, avian influenza is a highly contagious and deadly virus that can prey on chickens, turkeys and wild birds, including ducks and geese. It spreads via nasal secretions, saliva and fecal droppings, which experts say makes it difficult to contain.
Symptoms of the virus include a sudden increase in the mortality of a flock, a drop in egg production and diminished consumption of feed and water. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which has said that properly prepared and cooked poultry and eggs should not pose a risk to consumers. The chance of infected poultry entering the food chain is “extremely low,” the agency has said. As of March 31, the highly pathogenic form of the avian flu had been detected in 22 states, a tracking page maintained by the U.S.D.A. showed.
Ballot measure would tax California’s wealthiest residents to fund efforts curbing wildfires and smoke [San Francisco Chronicle]
How much fire season fouls up the air hasn’t been lost on anyone living in California recently: the smoke, the orange sky, the smell of burning wood. A ballot initiative that appears almost certain to go before voters in November takes aim at wildfire pollution, and more. Dubbed the Clean Cars and Clean Air Act, the measure would tax California’s wealthiest residents - those making more than $2 million a year - and channel the proceeds to helping the state curb wildfires, and smoke. The initiative also targets automobile exhaust by directing new tax revenue toward boosting the number of electric cars and trucks on the road. Already California is investing heavily in fire management and zero-emissions vehicles. Still, proponents of the measure say California needs to spend more money on clean air, especially as the temperatures continue to climb, which only exacerbates the amount of wildfire smoke and smog.
Northern California could face dire wildfire danger in 2022. How high is the risk?
This year figures to be a bad one – another bad one – for California wildfires. “The vulnerability of our forests is really catastrophic,” said Scott Stephens, a wildfire science professor and head of the Stephens Lab at UC Berkeley. A Newsom administration task force on Wednesday announced a strategic plan to expand the “use of beneficial fire” – prescribed burns by state and local agencies, as well as cultural burning by Native American fire practitioners – to treat forestland and prepare them for wildfire season. “As climate change continues to exacerbate wildfire conditions, we’re bringing federal, state, tribal, and local partners together to more effectively address the scale of this crisis,” Newsom said in a prepared statement. Stephens estimated that climate change represents no more than 25% of California’s wildfire problem, with most of the remaining 75% related to forest management.
Eggs by the dozen are getting even more expensive as Easter nears. Here’s why
The next time you stock up on eggs, you might notice it will cost more compared to the past few months — and even the past few years — as Easter gets closer. This comes as a highly contagious avian flu outbreak has infected more than 22 million birds in the U.S., including egg-laying chickens, and has spread to 24 states as of Monday, April 4, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Egg prices are 52% more expensive than they were when the first case of avian influenza was reported Feb. 8 in Indiana. This is when an outbreak was discovered in a commercial turkey flock, according to the USDA. In February, egg prices jumped 2.2% and the USDA warned on March 25 that the ongoing avian flu outbreak “could contribute to poultry and egg price increases through reduced supply or decrease prices through lowered international demand for U.S. poultry products or eggs.”
The $120 Billion Global Grain Trade Is Being Redrawn by Russia's War in Ukraine
Across Ukraine’s farm belt, silos are bursting with 15 million tons of corn from the autumn harvest, most of which should have been hitting world markets. The stockpiles — about half the corn Ukraine had been expected to export for the season — have become increasingly difficult to get to buyers. Before Russia’s attack, Ukraine’s corn would have made its way to Black Sea ports like Odesa and Mykolaiv by rail and loaded on to ships bound for Asia and Europe. But with the ports shuttered, small amounts of corn are creakily winding their way westward by rail through Romania and Poland before being shipped out. Ukraine is one of the world’s biggest exporters of corn, wheat and sunflower oil, flows of which are largely stalled. Grains exports are currently limited to 500,000 tons a month, down from as much as 5 million tons before the war, a loss of $1.5 billion, the country’s agriculture ministry says. Crops from Russia — the world’s biggest exporter of wheat — are still flowing, but questions persist over delivery and payment for future cargoes.
Rockefeller’s $105M plan to produce climate-friendly food
Kristen Griffin, Council of Philantrophy: The pandemic sent global hunger soaring, but now the war in Ukraine is making the problem far worse. Since Russia and Ukraine together supply 30% of global wheat exports, a big chunk of the world is losing access to food. Now one of the nation’s biggest foundations is trying to deal with some of these challenges with a $105 million plan to improve food access, make nutritious and healthy food more widely available, and advance production of food in ways that does not harm the planet. Over the next three years, the Good Food Strategy aims to ensure that 40 million people around the world have better access to healthy and sustainable food. The foundation has some innovative approaches. For instance, it plans to: — Encourage doctors to prescribe fruits and vegetables instead of drugs when appropriate since they can be both healthier and cheaper. — Pay for healthy foods at schools, hospitals, prisons, and other state government facilities. — Help farmers switch their production practices to approaches that reduce carbon from being released into the air after they plow the ground. — Fund more small and medium-size food businesses to diversify the distributors and prevent supply-chain issues.
Report to California Legislature: Prepare for sweeping effects of climate change
Painting alarming scenes of fires, floods and economic disruption, the California Legislature’s advisors have released a series of reports that lays out in stark terms the impacts of climate change across the state. The typically reserved, nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office outlined dire consequences for Californians as climate change continues to alter most aspects of daily life. Much of the focus of the six-part series is detailing the economic cost as the changing climate alters where and how Californians build, grow food and protect the most vulnerable residents. Workers in outdoor industries like agriculture, construction, forestry and recreation — 10% of California’s workforce and mostly made up of Latinos — will continue to bear the brunt of extreme heat and smoke.
Vertical Farms expand as demand for year-round produce grows
A recently constructed 95,000-square-foot warehouse in Compton, Calif., ticks off all the boxes for the booming storage industry: 32-foot-high ceilings, a secure truck court and access to truck routes. But it won’t be used for cargo or storage. Plenty Unlimited, an agricultural start-up based in San Diego, is using the site for an indoor vertical farm, expected to open later this year. “It’s the ability to put production anywhere without considering climate,” said Arama Kukutai, the company’s chief executive. Plenty Unlimited supplies Albertsons grocery stores with lettuce varieties grown on a smaller-scale farm outside San Francisco. Walmart, an investor, will soon sell Plenty’s produce throughout California. And Plenty has aspirations beyond greens: Last month, it announced plans with Driscoll’s, a berry seller, to develop an indoor farm in the Northeast devoted to strawberries.
U.S. Farmers plant more sunflowers as Ukraine War curbs supply
U.S. farmers may plant twice as many additional acres with sunflowers as the government forecast, according to a trade group, with prices soaring in the wake of Russia’s war with Ukraine. The commodity used in everything from potato chips and frying food to bird feed and shampoo could see a massive supply shortfall as Ukraine’s sunflower-oil industry, the world’s largest, suffers cuts to planting and exports due to Russia’s invasion. The squeeze already has American growers from North Dakota to Texas benefiting from the highest prices on record, fueling their motivation to sow more, according to John Sandbakken, executive director of the National Sunflower Association. U.S. Farmers Plant More Sunflowers as Ukraine War Curbs Supply
Food, farming and forestry must be transformed to curb global warming, U.N. says
Protecting forests, changing diets, and altering farming methods could contribute around a quarter of the greenhouse gas cuts needed to avert the worst impacts of climate change, according to the United Nations' climate panel. About 22% of global greenhouse gas emissions came from agriculture, forestry, and other land use sectors in 2019, the report said, around half of which were from deforestation. Much of the rest came from the combustion of fossil fuels. Mitigation measures in those sectors - including protecting forests from clearcutting, sequestering carbon in agricultural soils, and more sustainable diets - can provide as much as 20%-30% of the emissions reductions needed to limit global warming to 1.5 or 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
Turkey Prices Are Soaring With Bird Flu Hitting U.S. Flocks
One of the worst-ever outbreaks of avian influenza in the U.S. is pushing up the price of turkey, adding to already rampant meat inflation. More than 2 million turkeys have been lost so far in the U.S. since the outbreak began in mid-January, according to Steiner Consulting Group, or about half what is typically slaughtered in a week. Turkey prices were already high due to disruptions during the pandemic, and now they’re set to rise even further. That has buyers already vying for supplies for the U.S. Thanksgiving Day holiday in November that often features a whole turkey as a centerpiece, Whitman said. Overall, bird flu has been confirmed in flocks comprising over 22 million birds including broilers and egg-laying hens in 24 U.S. states, making it the worst outbreak since the record losses of over 50 million birds in 2015, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture data. In addition to turkey, egg prices in particular have also been rising due to losses from bird flu.
Get ready to spend more at the grocery store. Food prices expected to soar, USDA predict
If you think paying $10 for a pound of bacon or $6 for a pound of butter is bad, it's about to get more expensive. Pretty soon, you'll be paying even more for just about everything when it comes to eating in or dining out, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. "All food prices are now predicted to increase," the USDA's Food Prices Outlook for 2022 March report said. The increases are the highest in decades as grocery prices got more expensive and rose nearly 9% for the year. The USDA's Economic Research Service updated its March report predicting a 4.5%-5% rise in food prices this year. Eating out will see the highest increase, 5.5%-6.5%, the report said. Grocery prices are expected to rise between 3% and 4% in the coming months. And that's on top of all the other increases consumers faced over the past several months. No food category, the USDA said, decreased in price in 2021. And now the USDA revised its forecast upward for all food categories, including meats, poultry, eggs, dairy products, fats and oils, and more. The only category that the USDA revised downward was fresh vegetables.
No poop for you: Manure supplies run short as fertilizer prices soar
For nearly two decades, Abe Sandquist has used every marketing tool he can think of to sell the back end of a cow. Poop, after all, needs to go somewhere. The Midwestern entrepreneur has worked hard to woo farmers on its benefits for their crops. Now, facing a global shortage of commercial fertilizers made worse by Russia's invasion of Ukraine, more U.S. growers are knocking on his door. Sandquist says they're clamoring to get their hands on something Old MacDonald would swear by: old-fashioned animal manure. Some livestock and dairy farmers, including those who previously paid to have their animals' waste removed, have found a fertile side business selling it to grain growers. Equipment firms that make manure spreading equipment known as "honeywagons" are also benefiting. Not only are more U.S. farmers hunting manure supplies for this spring planting season, some cattle feeders that sell waste are sold out through the end of the year, according to industry consultant Allen Kampschnieder.
California drought: Disappointing rain and snow mean tighter water rules ahead
California’s wet season wrapped up as a big disappointment, setting the stage for a third year of drought. Most of the state — about 96% — was categorized as having severe drought conditions as March came to a close, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. The continuing drought suggests more water restrictions are forthcoming as supplies run low. “You need no more evidence than standing here on this very dry landscape to understand the challenges we’re facing in California,” said Karla Nemeth, director of the state Department of Water Resources, at the agency’s April snow survey in the Sierra Nevada, where there was very little snow to measure. In the northern Sierra, home to the state’s biggest reservoirs, the snowpack stood at 27% of average as of April 1, according to data from the California Cooperative Snow Survey. The central and southern Sierra performed slightly better, with snowpack levels each at 42% of average.
PG&E’s top boss harvests total exec pay that tops $50 million
PG&E’s top boss captured a total pay package in 2021 that topped $50 million at a time when the embattled utility remained under scrutiny for a decade of disasters linked to catastrophic wildfires and explosions. Patricia Poppe, chief executive officer with PG&E, harvested $51.2 million in total direct compensation last year, according to documents filed on Thursday with the Securities and Exchange Commission. By comparison, the average salary for chief executive officers of the companies that make up the S&P 500 Index was $15.5 million in 2020, the most recent year for which data is available, according to a survey by Executive Paywatch, a union-crafted website. Poppe’s $51.2 million total pay package was enriched primarily by $41.2 million in awards of stock, the annual SEC filing shows. The PG&E CEO also was awarded a bonus of $6.6 million and a base salary of $1.3 million.
Bird flu’s grisly question: how to kill millions of poultry
The spread of a bird flu that is deadly to poultry raises the grisly question of how farms manage to quickly kill and dispose of millions of chickens and turkeys. It’s a chore that farms across the country are increasingly facing as the number of poultry killed in the past two months has climbed to more than 24 million, with outbreaks reported nearly every day. Some farms have had to kill more than 5 million chickens at a single site with a goal of destroying the birds within 24 hours to limit the spread of the disease and prevent animals from suffering. The outbreak is the biggest since 2015, when producers had to kill more than 50 million birds. So far this year, there have been cases in 24 states, with Iowa the hardest hit with about 13 million chickens and turkeys killed. Other states with sizable outbreaks include Minnesota, Wisconsin, South Dakota and Indiana.
Food Prices Jump Most on Record as War Sparks Supply Chaos
Global food prices are surging at the fastest pace ever as the war in Ukraine chokes crop supplies, piling more inflationary pain on consumers and worsening a global hunger crisis. The war has wreaked havoc on supply chains in the crucial Black Sea breadbasket region, upending global trade flows and fueling panic about shortages of key staples such as wheat and cooking oils. That’s sent food prices -- which were already surging before the conflict started -- to a record, with a United Nations’ index of world costs soaring another 13% last month. The surging costs are spurring some countries to hold off on imports, seek new suppliers or draw down local stockpiles, though that won’t be a long-term fix, said Erin Collier, an economist at the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization.
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2020/2021 Board of Directors
President . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mike Ranalli
Secretary . . . . . . . . . . . . . Maryann Argyres
Treasurer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Gordon Helm
Jim Davies
Chuck Bacchi
Bill Prosser
Carolyn Mansfield
Norm Krizl
Staff
Managing Director . . Barb Kildow admin@edcfb.com 530-622-7773 530-620-8292 (cell)
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El Dorado County Farm Bureau News is a weekly publication for its members. Dues for membership are $185 for agricultural members, $150 for Business Ag Support, $72 for Associate members and $25 for Collegiate. Non-profit postage paid at Placerville, CA. Postmaster: Send changes to 2460 Headington Road, Placerville, CA 95667 El Dorado County Farm Bureau does not assume responsibility for statements by advertisers or for products advertised in El Dorado County newsletter, nor does Farm Bureau assume responsibility for statements or expressions of opinion other than in editorials or in articles showing authorship by an officer, director or employee of El Dorado County Farm Bureau or its affiliates.
A private nonprofit organization serving El Dorado County agriculture since 1917.
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