Friday, May 6th, 2022 from 6:00-8:00 p.m.

Join us for an evening with writer and photographer, Chuck Graham as he shares pictures and stories from his book, Carrizo Plain.

CWA Monthly Newsletter-April 2022

SLO County Board of Supervisors Meets May 3

To watch the meeting click here, and to review the agenda item details click here. Items of interest to agriculture are:

• Item 3 - Request for the Chair of the Board to sign the letter from the Diablo Canyon Power Plant MOU stakeholder group regarding reuse opportunities at the Diablo Canyon Power Plant site. All Districts.

• Item 6 - Request to approve an agreement with the San Luis Obispo Community Fire Safe Council Inc., allocating a total of $2,000 from Districts One, Two and Three Community Project Funds - Fund Center 106 to be used for expenses associated with the Wildfire Preparedness Event on May 7, 2022. District 1. District 2. District 3.

• Item 11 - Request to authorize the Director of Public Works, or designee, to apply to the San Luis Obispo Council of Governments Community Betterments Grant Program for multiple transportation projects. All Districts. (Los Berros Road at Dale Avenue, Arroyo Grande, bicycle safety improvement (Construction); Main Street, Templeton, at US 101 Interchange, operational improvements(Planning, Environmental and Design); Vineyard Drive, Templeton, multi-modal corridor plan; Los Osos Valley Road, Los Osos, multi-modal corridor plan; Pier Avenue, Oceano, multi-modal corridor plan

• Item 12 - Request to appoint Matt Cook and Dolores Howard to the Water Resources Advisory Committee of the San Luis Obispo County Flood Control and Water Conservation District. All Districts.

• Item 18 - Hearing to consider an appeal (APPL2020-00022) by Christina Maldonado of the Planning Department Hearing Officer’s approval of a Minor Use Permit (DRC2018-00228) for SLO BF Inc. to establish a multi-phased project that includes 2.63 acres of outdoor cannabis cultivation canopy; ...The project would result in approximately 6.5 acres of disturbance including 4,000 cubic yards of cut and fill on an approximately 54-acre site located at 1255 Penman Springs Road, approximately 1.25 miles east of the City of Paso Robles. The project site is within the Agriculture land use category and within the North County Planning Area, El Pomar-Estrella Sub Area. A Mitigated Negative Declaration has been prepared for CEQA compliance. District 1 and 5.

SLO County Agricultural Liaison Advisory Board Meets May 2 at Farm Bureau

Confused about the County’s new irrigation well construction restrictions? Monday’s ALAB meeting includes a presentation on this issue from SLO County Environmental Health Services. While the County’s action stems from Governor Newsom’s Executive Order in March, the County is tasked with interpreting how this should be carried out. SLO County farmers and ranchers have been receiving conflicting feedback from hydrogeologists about the ability to actually get the analysis the County is now requiring. Read more background on this issue from Farm Bureau’s April 15 newsletter here.

Farm Bureau raises flags with organic equity program

Agri-Pulse Daybreak West for April 28, 2022

The Assembly Ag Committee passed a measure on Wednesday that would establish a program to support underserved farmers transitioning to organic certification. The three-year process for cutting out synthetic pesticides and fertilizers can be costly and prohibitive, according to the bill’s proponents.

California Farm Bureau’s Taylor Roschen agreed “it's tough to be organic” and everyone deserves a seat at the table.

But she argued “if the table is not big enough, you don't build a new table for somebody else. You make the table bigger, you scooch down, you make room.” She raised concerns over the bill creating a new program within CDFA’s equity office, rather than adding to the existing organic program or placing it within the environmental farming office.

FSA to Extend Emergency Credit to Producers in San Luis Obispo County

San Luis Obispo county is among 58 California counties designated as Primary Natural Disaster Areas by USDA. 

This Secretarial natural disaster designation allows the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Farm Service Agency (FSA) to extend much-needed emergency credit to producers recovering from natural disasters through emergency loans. Emergency loans can be used to meet various recovery needs including the replacement of essential items such as equipment or livestock, reorganization of a farming operation or the refinance of certain debts. ...Application deadline is December 8, 2022. To learn more, click here.

Growers Encouraged to Complete Brief Annual Crop Survey Critical to Predicting Fruit's Flow to Market by April 30, 2022

Industry indicators have predicted a 306 million pound California avocado crop for 2022. To help the California Avocado Commission fine tune that estimate and better predict the harvest flow to market, California avocado growers are encouraged to complete CAC’s annual crop estimate survey.

The survey also assists the Commission in assessing the status of the industry’s overall productivity and current farming practices such as bearing, non-bearing and high-density planting. Individual data from the survey is for the Commission’s use only and will remain confidential.

Complete the survey here.

California Will Keep Workplace Pandemic Rules Through 2022

From California Farm Labor Contractors Association - The California Division of Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board approved the Covid-19 Emergency Temporary Standards through the end of 2022. The board voted on extending the standards during their April 21 meeting. The Office of Administrative Law is expected to approve the emergency regulations, at which point they will become effective on or around May 6, 2022 and expire on December 31, 2022.

This means that the Cal-OSHA Covid sick pay – i.e. the rule requiring employers to pay employees as if they are still there if they have a work-related “close contact” exposure to Covid – will be extended through the end of 2022.

Why is that important? Because Senate Bill 114, the Covid sick pay that Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law, was set to expire on September 30, 2022. Employers anticipated that when Covid sick pay legislation expired in September that they would no longer owe Covid sick pay.

Cal/OSHA Standards Board Approves COVID-19 ETS 3rd Readoption

On April 21, the Cal/OSHA Standards Board readopted for the third time the COVID-19 Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS). The ETS was originally adopted in November 2020, first readopted in June, and readopted in December for the second time as permitted by the Administrative Procedures Act. The third readoption is made possible by Gov. Gavin Newsom’s Feb. 28 executive order; the third-time readopted ETS will be in effect until Dec. 31. 

The new version which will be effective on May 6 makes numerous revisions to the COVID-19 ETS, including: 

• Eliminates requirements for surface disinfection and cleaning.
• Deletes references to “fully vaccinated” to distinguish among employees, meaning that for most purposes all employees are to be treated alike, regardless of vaccination status.

As a result, employers will be required to furnish N95 respirators to employees on demand and to make COVID-19 testing available at no cost, during paid time, to all employees who had a “close contact” in the workplace, regardless of vaccination status.

Cal/OSHA and the Standards Board have since late in 2021 been clear they intend to adopt a permanent infectious disease workplace standard and might adopt as a permanent standard the third iteration of the ETS in the fall before it expires on December 31, 2022.

You can find more information, including links to the Cal/OSHA Standards Board's ETS regulation page and CDPH's April 6 return-to-work guidance at COVID-19 News & Resources on FELS' webpage

ALRB Do's and Don'ts: An Overview of the Agricultural Labor Relations Act and the Agricultural Labor Relations Board

May 25, 2022 at 10am (webinar): 

Rights to protected concerted activity and other rights protected by the Agricultural Labor Relations Act (ALRA) apply to employees even in non-union workplaces. Agricultural Labor Relations Board (ALRB) chair Victoria Hassid will offer insight into the Board's enforcement of these rights.

Register here

Anti-CAFO Legislation Fails to Advance; Protests Expected

California Cattlemen's Association -April 25, 2022

Assemblyman Adrin Nazarian (D-Van Nuys) this year introduced Assembly Bill 2764, which would have prohibited the creation or expansion of “commercial animal feeding operations” (CAFOs) with annual revenues over $100,000. The legislation was sponsored by radical animal rights group Direct Action Everywhere (DxE), a group known for headline-grabbing stunts.

This week is the deadline by which all fiscal bills – including AB 2764 – must pass out of relevant policy committees or be dead for the year. The Assembly Agriculture Committee’s final hearing before the deadline is this Wednesday and AB 2764 is not on the agenda (either in its original or an amended “study bill” form), meaning the bill is likely dead for the year.

Regenerative Organic Certified - Wine Growers Workshop May 12 at Tablas Creek Vineyards