SBCFB Weekly Newsletter
July 31, 2024
| |
YOUR FARM BUREAU HAPPENINGS | |
Coming Soon!
Make sure it is on your calendar!
AUGUST 17, 2024
4:00 pm - Cocktails
5:00 pm - Dinner
6:00 pm - Live Auction
| |
2024 Celebrate Harvest Dinner & Live Auction
With great pleasure, the Santa Barbara County Farm Bureau once again hosts an evening in celebration and showcase of Santa Barbara County’s agricultural bounty. Please join us Saturday, August 17th for a fun night of drinking & dancing, delicious locally grown food, and an amazing live auction
We are proud to celebrate the hands that feed us!
| |
From California State Farm Bureau | |
The farm bill is already a year late, the stakes are high and time is running out.
The law from which USDA takes its marching orders is supposed to be revised and renewed every five years. The last five-year farm bill expired with September 2023, so American agriculture has been working under a one-year extension of a six-year-old law. Though it was a good farm bill at the time, there are a lot of pieces of this 2018 law that are badly in need of an update. Six years of tumult – including the highest inflation in 40 years, geopolitical disruptions to markets for the things that farmers sell and the things they buy, and rising expectations for what farmers can and should do for the planet – have left key parts of the 2018 farm bill outdated. The world is undeniably different than when the last farm bill was written.
Read More HERE
| |
Farm Bureau Extension: 2024 CE Series | |
California Farm Bureau presents the Farm Bureau Extension: 2024 Continuing Education Series held virtually. Join throughout the year for webinars featuring content that meets your pesticide continuing education (CE) requirements. Subject matter experts will share information immediately applicable to your business operations and advance your professional development. CE certificates will be sent for each webinar attended after the successful completion of a simple quiz on the material.
Classes are presented via Zoom and held during the mid-morning hours on the specified dates. Check below for class dates. Cost is free for members and $400 for non-members.
• Aug 8 - Personal Protective Equipment
• Sept 12 - Application Inspection
• October 10 - Choosing the Right Pesticide
• Nov 14 - Preventing Common Violations
Click here for more information
| |
N 95 Respirators are available to Protect Farm Workers from Wildfire Smoke at SB County Agricultural Commissioner's Office | |
The Santa Barbara County Agricultural Commissioner’s Office has N95 respirators available for voluntary use by outdoor agricultural workers to reduce exposure to wildfire smoke. We have a limited supply, and are limiting distribution to 200 respirators per company at this time. They will be available on a first come, first served basis until our supply is exhausted. Respirators may be picked up between the hours of 10:00 am to 3:00 pm at our Santa Barbara, Buellton or Santa Maria offices. When the supply is exhausted, we will send another update via email and Facebook.
The California Code of Regulations, Title 8 (8 CCR) section 5141.1 requires that where the current Air Quality Index (AQI) for PM2.5 is equal to or greater than 151, but does not exceed 500, employers must provide a sufficient number of respirators to all employees for voluntary use in accordance with 8 CCR section 5144. Those respirators must be NIOSH-approved devices that effectively protect the wearers from inhalation of PM2.5, such as N95 filtering facepiece respirators. Additionally, where the current AQI for PM2.5 exceeds 500, respirator use is required.
Please contact one of our local Agricultural Commissioner’s offices if you have questions.
| |
|
Drought Relief Grants Still Available for Parts of Santa Barbara County | |
California Office of the Small Business Advocate
Drought Relief Grants Eligibility:
Will be allocated to qualified small agricultural businesses that:
(a) experienced a decline in annual gross receipts or gross profits of 10 percent or more when comparing the 2022 taxable year to the 2019 taxable year,
(b) have been affected by severe drought according to a D2 or higher drought classification pursuant to the USDA Drought Monitor (view map here), and
(c) do not file their 2022 tax year returns until 2024.
Read More HERE
| |
Overlays for Row Crops Considered to Simplify County Ag Entrprise Ordinance | |
Sherry and Art Hibbits walk in their family’s walnut orchard, near their row crop fields on Highway 246, east of Lompoc in this photo form 2018. Agricultural overlays and 200-foot buffers are being considered in Santa Barbara County’s proposed Agricultural Enterprise Ordinance to protect row crops and orchards from the impacts of such supplemental activities as farm stays, campgrounds and special events some farmers might initiate to provide additional revenue Len Wood, staff | |
Mike Hodgson Contributing Writer Jul 25, 2024 Courtesy of the Santa Maria Times Overlays east and west of Santa Maria, along Highway 135 and outside Lompoc are being considered by the Santa Barbara County Planning Commission as a way to protect row crops from contamination without shutting out small farms from supplemental activities.
With a few narrow exceptions, the overlays would preclude other agriculture operations from conducting supplemental activities as a way to sidestep the previously proposed 1,000-foot setbacks from row crop cultivation, which small operators opposed as prohibitive.
Agriculture operations could apply for a conditional use permit to allow such activities as small-scale agricultural processing, farm stands and agriponics within the overlay areas, commissioners agreed at Wednesday’s special hearing on the proposed Agricultural Enterprise Ordinance.
Read More HERE
| | |
Do You Know What to Do When the Union Files
a Card Check Petition? | |
SACRAMENTO — Leadership Insights is a monthly column brought to you by the California Agricultural Leadership Foundation in partnership with the Morning Ag Clips. In this series, we delve into the crucial facets of leadership within the agricultural sector, with academic and agricultural leaders offering valuable perspectives and strategies.
Agricultural leaders work together in various venues and scenarios as co-workers, collaborators, industry partners and beyond. They may be focused on an issue or addressing strategies for increasing effectiveness and/or efficiencies. They may be members of a working group, board of directors, committee, advisory group or industry program. Before the hard work should begin, it is critical to develop the group into a team that supports one another in achieving the task(s). Leadership development involves teamwork development.
Read More HERE
| |
Sensors Guide Growers on Water Decisions | |
Lisa Tate, a fifth-generation grower in Santa Paula, said she knew something was amiss in a block of young avocado trees planted on her family’s ranch.
She had a hunch that too much water was sitting in the root zone after a second year of above-average rainfall. It was still spring, and her crew suggested it was time to irrigate. But Tate was proven right, thanks to readings from a soil-moisture sensor. As a result, her young trees didn’t get watered again until June.
These days, water conservation agencies and University of California Cooperative Extension farm advisors are advocating adding soil-moisture sensors to create precision irrigation management in drought-prone California agricultural areas.
Read Full Article
| |
Risks of Breathing Wildfire Smoke | |
Wildfire smoke contains hazardous gasses and fine particles that can spread for miles. Learn how you can protect your employees from the smoke.
Read More Here
| |
SAVE UP TO $2,750 ON CAT EXCAVATORS, SKID STEERS, WHEEL LOADERS AND MORE |
Eligible California Farm Bureau members* can save up to $2,750 on the purchase or lease of eligible Cat® compact track loaders, compact and small wheel loaders, skid steer loaders, small dozers, backhoe loaders, mini hydraulic excavators and telehandlers. Also, receive an additional $250 credit on select work tool attachments purchased with new Cat machines (Promotion excludes Buckets, Forks, Thumbs, and Coupler attachments). These discounts can be combined with any current retail discount, promotion, rebates or offers available through Caterpillar or its dealers, with the exception of the Cat NCBA membership incentive.
For a complete list of eligible Cat equipment discounts, click HERE!
*Must be a valid member of a participating state Farm Bureau for at least 30 days to be eligible for discount. Members must present a discount certificate at time of purchase or lease quote to receive the discount. No limit on discount certificates available to members, but one certificate must be presented for each machine purchase or lease.
If you have questions or need help obtaining the certificate, please call (916) 561-5500 or visit your local FB office.
https://www.cat.com/farmbureau
| | |
Coastal Vineyard Care Associates |
Established by Bill Foley in 1996, Foley Family Wines & Spirits (FFWS) is a portfolio of highly acclaimed wines and spirits from some of the world’s greatest estates. The company owns more than 25 wineries and distilleries, each with its distinct style, legacy, and approach to hospitality.
FFWS has expanded its portfolio significantly since its founding, now including such storied brands as Chalk Hill Estate Winery, Sebastiani, Roth, Banshee, Ferrari-Carano, Chateau St. Jean, and Lancaster in Sonoma County; Merus, Silverado, and Foley Johnson in Napa Valley; Lincourt, Firestone, and Foley Estates in Southern California; Chalone Vineyard in Monterey County; Four Graces and Acrobat in Oregon; and Three Rivers in Washington. Foley Family Wine & Spirits import wines include Lucien Albrecht in France, Nieto Senetiner in Argentina, and 14 wine brands spanning three of New Zealand’s most acclaimed winegrowing regions. The growing global spirits portfolio includes Minden Mill Distilling, Charles Goodnight Texas Straight Bourbon Whiskey, New Zealand’s Lighthouse Gin, El Mexicano Tequila, The Loch Lomond Group in Scotland, Two Stacks Irish Whisky and Killowen.
To learn more of what we do click HERE.
| | |
Need to Renew Your Membership or Want to Join?
We can make that easy for you!
Click here to Renew or Join today!
| |
Thank you to our Silver Members! | |
Thank you to our Business Members! | | | | |