We know that many areas in California have been severely impacted by the heavy rains and winds that have lasted for several weeks now. Several Congressional offices have been working closely together to help gather and organize any information from impacted farmers and ranchers in these areas. We kindly ask for any such producers to reach out to Matthew Viohl ([email protected]) with any details, images, or stories as we work with these offices.

Separately, many of these same offices are working with both the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) and the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) on getting appropriate support to several tree nut farmers that have been critically impacted by the droughts in 2022. We know that yields and overall quality have gone down on commodities such as walnuts, and are looking at ways to engage state and federal governments for assistance as the negative impacts of these droughts become clearer. Below, you can find two such letters sent by a bipartisan group of California members.

As a follow-up to last week’s piece, we would like to remind members that the Emergency Relief Program (ERP) Phase Two payments will begin opening up on January 23^rd. This covers disasters in calendar years 2020 and 2021. We highly encourage previously impacted members to take a close look at the fact sheet below if you believe you might qualify for relief. The USDA has listed several documents and other data that will be useful to prepare beforehand in order to help speed along the application process. For more information or any questions on this, please do not hesitate to reach out to Matthew Viohl ([email protected]).

Over the past week, Committee assignments have been rolling out for the new 118^th Congress. While most of the attention on major networks has been where the “McCarthy holdouts” are ending up, we’ve been closely watching where some of our California delegation has ended up. Newly-elected Rep. John Duarte (13^th), a farmer out of the Central Valley, has already been assigned to the House Committees on Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Transportation & Infrastructure. Those three committees are extremely relevant for our industry and mark a major win for the Representative.

Fellow freshman Rep. Kevin Kiley (3^rd) has also been assigned to the powerful House Judiciary Committee, which oversees federal judiciary and law enforcement agencies, amongst other priorities. Although there are three new freshman members on the Democratic side, Reps. Kevin Mullin (15^th), Sydney Kamlager-Dove (37^th), and Robert Garcia (42^nd), it does not appear that their assignments have been made public at this time. In any case, CAFB looks forward to working close with not just our new members, but the full delegation as well.

The next Waters of the United States was published in the Federal Register on January 17, 2022 and will go into effect March 20. The Supreme Court’s decision in the Sackett case, which could contain language that would compel the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Army Corps of Engineers to respond with regulatory guidance, is still expected in the coming weeks or months.