California Ag Network

Category: Ag Legislation

  • CA Avocado Commission State of the Industry Report Available

    To provide the California Avocado Commission (CAC) and the growers it serves with a better perspective on the health of the California avocado industry, CAC retained the Tootelian Company to conduct a member survey. Summary findings from the report are now available on the California avocado grower website.

    The survey was sent to all CAC members in August 2021. The 77-page report includes detailed findings concerning:

    • Farm acreage
    • Pounds harvested and crop values by district and acreage
    • Overall farm income, expenses and net margin
    • Farm income, expenses and net margin by district and acreage
    • Water sources
    • Overall irrigation costs
    • Irrigation costs by water source, district and acreage
    • Perceived threats to future profitability

    Highlights from the survey are as follows:

    • Across all districts, bearing acres comprised about 80% of total acres.
    • From 2018 – 2020, the average number of pounds harvested per bearing acre declined at a rate of -2.4% per year.
    • During this same time frame, the average crop value per bearing acre rose at a rate of 0.8% per year. When examined by the acreage of the operation, the annual growth rates in crop values per bearing acre (2018-2020) were 6.7% for farms with 10 acres or less, 2.3% for farms with 11 – 50 acres and -1.4% for those with 51 acres or more.
    • The three-year average for total expenses as a percent of gross income was 93.7% with an average net margin of 6.3%.
    • Average gross income was 2.7% per year with expenses growing at a 4.4% rate annually.
    • Respondents indicated they did not change their water sources much from 2018 – 2020 with District 1 and District 2 relying primarily on water agencies, District 4 utilizing mutual water companies and Districts 3 and 5 relying mainly on wells/surface water on the property.
    • Overall irrigation costs per dollar of crop value dropped from 18.9% in 2018 to 15.9% in 2020, with irrigation costs as a percent of total expenses dropping from 20.2% in 2018 to 15.3% in 2020.
    • The highest average irrigation costs per acre in 2020 were associated with mutual water companies ($1,389/acre) and water agencies ($1,157/acre) and lowest when growers combined well/surface water with water agencies ($698/acre) and wells/surface water with mutual water companies ($555/acre).
    • Respondents indicated the most serious threats to future profitability are water costs, costs of complying with government regulations and labor costs.
    • Other factors identified as threats to profitability included availability of water, imported avocados and environmental regulations.

    Findings from the survey will be used to help the Commission explore potential opportunities to address growers’ most pressing challenges.

  • Deadline Extended to Apply for Pandemic Support for Certified Organic and Transitioning Operations

    The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has extended the deadline for agricultural producers who are certified organic, or transitioning to organic, to apply for the Organic and Transitional Education and Certification Program (OTECP). This program provides pandemic assistance to cover certification and education expenses. The deadline to apply for 2020 and 2021 eligible expenses is now Feb. 4, 2022, rather than the original deadline of Jan. 7, 2022.

    “We listened to feedback from our stakeholders and are happy to provide organic producers, and those transitioning their operations, enough time to learn about the program and complete the application,” said Zach Ducheneaux, FSA Administrator.

    Signup for OTECP, administered by USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA), began Nov. 8.

    Program Background  

    Certified operations and transitional operations may apply for OTECP for eligible expenses paid during the 2020, 2021 and 2022 fiscal years. Signup for the 2022 fiscal year will be announced at a later date.

    For each year, OTECP covers 25% of a certified operation’s eligible certification expenses, up to $250 per certification category (crop, livestock, wild crop, handling and State Organic Program fee). This includes application fees, inspection fees, USDA organic certification costs, state organic program fees and more.

    Crop and livestock operations transitioning to organic production may be eligible for 75% of a transitional operation’s eligible expenses, up to $750, for each year. This includes fees charged by a certifying agent or consultant for pre-certification inspections and development of an organic system plan.

    For both certified operations and transitional operations, OTECP covers 75% of the registration fees, up to $200, per year, for educational events that include content related to organic production and handling in order to assist operations in increasing their knowledge of production and marketing practices that can improve their operations, increase resilience and expand available marketing opportunities. Additionally, both certified and transitional operations may be eligible for 75% of the expense of soil testing required under the National Organic Program (NOP) to document micronutrient deficiency, not to exceed $100 per year.

    Producers apply through their local FSA office and can also obtain one-on-one support with applications by calling 877-508-8364. The program application and additional information can be found at farmers.gov/otecp.

    Additional Organic Support    

    OTECP builds upon USDA’s Organic Certification Cost Share Program (OCCSP) which provides cost share assistance of 50%, up to a maximum of $500 per scope, to producers and handlers of agricultural products who are obtaining or renewing their certification under the NOP. Although the application period for OCCSP ended Nov. 1, 2021, FSA will consider late-filed applications for those operations who still wish to apply.

    Meanwhile, USDA’s Risk Management Agency (RMA) recently made improvements to Whole-Farm Revenue Protection to make it more flexible and accessible to organic producers.

    To learn more about USDA’s broader assistance for organic producers, visit usda.gov/organic.

  • New Way to Predict Grazing Cattle Weight Gain on Rangelands From Satellite Imagery

    USDA’s Agricultural Research Service (ARS) developed a unique approach to using satellite imagery to predict cattle weight gain on rangelands. By fusing multiple images over a period of time, scientists were able to monitor how forage quality changes over space and time in rangelands within the shortgrass steppe, and how this relates to the weight gain of free-ranging cattle throughout the summer grazing season.

    Managing the grazing season in rangelands can be challenging due to high variability in temperature and rainfall over time. From a manager’s perspective, it is essential to know when and where forage production and quality are changing to optimize free-range livestock weight gain and meet other environmental objectives. This is not just about chasing forage quantity (total amount of vegetation biomass); it is also about looking for the highest-quality forage throughout the season.

    “This study is probably the first-time high-quality datasets have been used to predict cattle weight gain directly from satellite imagery,” said Sean Kearney, Post Doc Research Associate in Fort Collins, CO.

    These three images show a progression (left to right) from lower-biomass/higher-quality forage to higher-biomass/lower-quality forage. Free-ranging cattle weight gain tended to be lower under conditions on the right, when diet quality was low, even if forage biomass remained high. Photos by Dr. Edward Raynor, USDA-ARS.

    In the study published in Ecological Applications, scientists used the satellite images, along with field observations from 40 different pastures grazed over a period of 10 years, to predict the performance of cattle grazing in Eastern Colorado throughout the summer season.  The study site, the Central Plains Experimental Range, is a Long-Term Agroecosystem Research (LTAR) network location.

    The cattle performance predictions – specifically, weight gain – were made from satellite-derived estimates of both forage quantity and quality. The satellite-based predictions of forage quality were a first for the region, and they proved to be especially important. Most notably, weight gain was affected by the timing of forage green-up and senescence (browning down).

    “We observed that in years when satellite images showed forage greening up earlier, before cattle began to graze, the quality of the diet declined more rapidly and cattle weight gain was lower, especially toward the end of the grazing season,” said Kearney. “In some years, plenty of biomass was still available late in the season, but a large portion of the high-quality forage was missed because it peaked (reached top quality) so early in the season. This resulted in cattle feeding on lower-quality grass, which reduced their performance.”

    With recent climate patterns of earlier spring green-up, higher temperatures and drier weather during the summer months, it is critical to determine the right time to start and stop grazing cattle, in order to match up grazing timing with high quality forage.

    “We knew forage quality mattered, but we didn’t know to what extent,” said Lauren Porensky, Research Ecologist. “Now we can estimate diet quality across space and time and have a better idea of what is causing changes in diet quality throughout the season.”

    What is next? Scientists are linking these new diet quality and vegetation maps with GPS collar data to better understand what drives cattle foraging behavior, as well as working on a new model to predict diet quality in near-real-time to support adaptive management efforts of ranchers and other rangeland managers.

    The Agricultural Research Service is the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s chief scientific in-house research agency. Daily, ARS focuses on solutions to agricultural problems affecting America. Each dollar invested in agricultural research results in $17 of economic impact.

  • North American Meat Institute to CDFA: Modified Prop 12 Rules Remain Flawed; More Time Needed

    In comments submitted to the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA), The North American Meat Institute (NAMI) said, despite modification to proposed rules for Proposition 12 (Prop 12 or the law), the proposed rules remain flawed and more time is needed for compliance.

    “Until CDFA publishes final rules, no one can adequately prepare to comply with a law with criminal sanctions and that authorizes civil litigation,” said Mark Dopp, General Counsel and Chief Operating Officer at NAMI. “Rather than apply ‘band aids’ to address some challenges, NAMI suggests CDFA go further and afford everyone in the supply chain, from hog producers all the way to foodservice and retail entities, the 28-month preparation time the law, and the voters, contemplated before enforcing any aspect of Prop 12 or its regulations.”

    For the text of the comments, go here.

    Although CDFA modified the proposed rules and are to be applauded because they account for complexities in the supply chain or they bring the proposal more in line with the law, unfortunately, many parts of the May 2021 proposed rules remain intact and flawed. NAMI identified these flaws in its July comments and during the August public hearing.

    Prop 12 directed CDFA to promulgate regulations implementing the law by September 1, 2019. The rules are yet to be finalized even though some provisions take effect January 1, 2022.

    About North American Meat Institute
    The North American Meat Institute is a leading voice for the meat and poultry industry. The Meat Institute’s members process the vast majority of U.S. beef, pork, lamb, and poultry, as well as manufactures the equipment and ingredients needed to produce safe, high quality meat and poultry products.

  • State of the California Almond Industry

    The 2021 California almond crop size has come considerably short of what was initially forecasted earlier this season. How will this reflect on prices and what other factors in the market are at play? Watch this brief interview with Richard Waycott, President of the Almond Board of California, as he explains.

    Please thank this video’s sponsor Suterra for their industry support.

  • Western Pistachio Industry Delivers Another Record Crop

    Despite drought conditions and other challenges facing California agriculture, pistachio growers delivered another record high crop — even with it being considered an ‘off year’ for production trends.  Watch this brief interview with Richard Matoian, President of American Pistachio Growers as he explains.

    Please thank this video’s sponsor Suterra for their industry support.

  • Welcoming Aubrey Bettencourt to the Almond Alliance of California

    We are pleased to introduce Aubrey Bettencourt as the new President/CEO of the Almond Alliance of California.  Watch this brief interview with Aubrey to learn more about how she has been prepared for this position and her plans to serve the California almond industry.

    Please thank this video’s sponsor Suterra for their industry support.

  • Black Beans Help Fix Insulin Resistance and Gut Bacteria Balance

    USDA ARS — Adding cooked black beans to a high-fat diet improved sensitivity to insulin and other measures often related to diabetes and restored gut bacteria balance in obese mice, according to a USDA Agricultural Research Service study.

    As little as the mouse-size equivalent of a single serving a day of black beans—about a half cup for a human—lowered insulin resistance 87 percent in obese mice compared to obese mice eating the same high-fat diet without the black beans. Insulin resistance is when a body’s response to the hormone insulin is impaired so glucose in the blood cannot be used for energy, resulting in high blood sugar, a factor often leading to diabetes.

    Mice on the high-fat plus black beans diet also decreased low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, the so-called bad cholesterol, 28 percent and triglyceride levels 37 percent compared to mice eating the high-fat diet without black beans. These are both risk factors for cardiovascular disease.

    Other diabetes-related biomarkers such as the levels of leptin, glucagon, and a group of inflammatory biochemicals were all significantly better in the mice on the high-fat plus black beans diet.

    The researchers also found that adding black beans to the high fat diet restored the balance of healthier bacteria in the gut, particularly decreasing the ratio of Firmicutes bacteria to Bacteroidetes bacteria in the gut by 64 percent compared to mice on the high fat diet without black beans  and mice on a low fat diet. High ratios of Firmicutes to Bacteroidetes are associated with obesity. Intestinal bacteria associated with inflammation such as Blautia and Clostridium all were significantly reduced in mice fed the high fat plus black beans diet compared to mice on the high fat diet without beans.

    “This research suggests that eating even a small amount of black beans can have multiple health benefits,” said ARS research chemist Wallace Yokoyama with the Healthy Processed Foods Research Unit of the Western Regional Research Center in Albany, California. Yokoyama led the study, which was published in the scientific journal Foods.

    “We also tested if supplementing the high fat diet with individual components from black beans would have the same beneficial impacts on the obese mice and didn’t find the same effects at all. It was only adding whole black beans, and cooked whole beans at that, which had the benefits,” Yokoyama said.

    Perhaps the most interesting scientific information coming from this study, according to Yokoyama, is data to begin determining just how black beans improve insulin resistance. It appears that black beans may inhibit the JNK/c-Jun pathway, a key metabolic pathway that has many but not necessarily well-defined functions including regulating inflammatory responses. Chronic inflammation is believed to be the basis for insulin resistance and other metabolic diseases.

    Black beans, or more precisely black turtle beans (Phaseolus vulgaris), are generally low in fat and high in fiber and protein. They are popular in Latin American, Mexican and Caribbean cuisines as well as in Cajun and Creole cooking. Like all common beans, black beans are native to the Americas. Today, they have been introduced around the world to become known as frijoles negros or poroto negro in Spanish, feijão preto in Portuguese, and karuppu kaaramani and kala ghevada in various regional cuisines of India.

    The Agricultural Research Service is the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s chief scientific in-house research agency. Daily, ARS focuses on solutions to agricultural problems affecting America. Each dollar invested in agricultural research results in $17 of economic impact.

  • New Economic Analysis Underscores Impact of Pandemic on Farmers, Agriculture

    We have all felt the seismic shift from the pandemic and its impact on our lives and livelihoods. Throughout the pandemic farmers and farm workers have worked diligently and continually to deliver healthy and safe fruits and vegetables to consumers. But the pandemic further exposed the tight margins of farming and the intense cost pressures being faced in agriculture today.

    The Grower Shipper Association of Central California (GSA) commissioned a new analysis by economists to examine the cost impacts of the pandemic as well as other factors, such as supply chain issues, which are putting pressure on agriculture’s ability to sustain food production in the region.

    The mission of GSA is advancing families, food and farming in Central California. These types of analyses are an important way to assess vulnerabilities associated with increasing costs as well as identify potential areas where better solutions may be necessary to advance our mission. It also allows GSA to assess their role in supporting members and ag employees by relieving or alleviating economic burden through solution-driven work.

    This analysis provides a short and long-run outlook and focuses on current, continuing and impending cost pressures within a landscape of the economic fundamentals of supply and demand. While there are numerous crops produced in our region, the economists determined their analysis would focus on one crop specifically in order to appropriately identify industry cost pressures. Therefore the analysis examines the per carton costs of growing and shipping iceberg lettuce.

    The economists determined the total cost to produce a carton of iceberg lettuce is over $17 per carton. The average baseline production budget for Salinas Valley iceberg lettuce shows typical costs to grow, harvest, and pack is around $15 per carton. According to the analysis, the estimated increase in direct lettuce production costs identified is $2.12 per carton. This includes a $0.68 increase to growing costs and a $1.44 increase for harvest, packing, and cooling costs including a $0.67 increase due to operational changes related to COVID-19.

    At an average price of $15 to $17 per carton, grower-shippers are not able to cover production costs. The economists state that an increase of $2.12 per carton with 24 heads of lettuce may seem immaterial from the consumer perspective – this would work out to $0.09 per head. However, they point out that this change is quite significant for farmers and shippers.

    These findings are sobering and reinforce GSA’s commitment to support our mission through results oriented efforts. As an example, GSA’s work to protect employees from the spread of COVID-19 included the creation of a model quarantined housing program as well as a mass vaccination program responsible for having immunized a majority of the farm workers in the region. While the primary objective of this effort was to keep farm workers and their families healthy, the development and operation of this vaccination program, in partnership with Clinica De Salud Del Valle De Salinas, also likely lowered the economic burden of COVID-19 on ag employers since it allowed the region to continue consistently harvesting and shipping produce.

    As we address the economists’ findings, GSA and the farmers and farming companies we represent understand their responsibility to grow safe food, protect farm workers, nurture and sustain our farms and the environment around them and be good neighbors and stewards of our communities where we live and work. We acknowledge that thoughtful, outcome-oriented regulations can provide necessary baseline uniformity that govern practices in the workplace including environmental and food and worker safety protections that benefit our community and consumers. However, when new regulations or legislation that impacts agriculture are being considered, farmers should have a seat at the table and cost impacts should be discussed and evaluated, especially in light of the profit margins identified in this analysis.

    While a safe workplace, a healthy environment and safe food are of paramount importance, a strong economy creates important opportunities and support that benefits our communities and should remain a priority as well. In fact, 77% of Bay Area and Central Coast residents agree that agriculture was most or very important to the quality of life and the economy of California in a survey conducted by GSA. This reflects the value of agriculture, including job-creation, support of community initiatives and charities, preservation of green and open spaces and local food production.

    Learn more about the findings from this economic analysis on our new page in the Our Work section of the GSA website. On this page you will find a white paper outlining the findings of the analysis as well as a link to the full report.

  • How Extreme Weather Affects Ag and Wine Production Keynote Address at 2022 Unified Symposium

    With so much attention paid to climate change, the 2022 Unified Wine and Grape Symposium this January has appropriately recruited the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) climate director to open the prestige three-day event. As Unified’s Tuesday luncheon keynote speaker, Dr. Steven Ostoja, director of the USDA California Climate Hub, will offer his  insights into how a changing climate and extreme weather are affecting agriculture and winegrape production, adaptation strategies growers need to know about and ways the industry can combat a changing climate. The luncheon will take place at Sacramento’s SAFE Credit Union Convention Center on Tuesday, January 25, from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

    Based at the Agricultural Research Services’s Sustainable Agriculture Water Systems Research Unit, Dr. Ostoja is a Fellow at the John Muir Institute of the Environment at the University of California, Davis. He’s responsible for leading the development and delivery of regional, science-based information to enable climate-smart agricultural and forestry decision-making for the largest agricultural producing state in the nation. Dr. Ostoja’s research into applied natural resources management, human-environment ineractions, and climate adaptation science has been published in over 50 peer-reviewed government and technical publications.

    Registration for the Unified Wine & Grape Symposium is online at www.unifiedsymposium.org or by calling (888) 529-9272. The Keynote Luncheon is a separate fee and includes a plated lunch and wine. The 2022 Unified Wine & Grape Symposium will be held on January 25-27, with exhibits open on January 26 and 27, at the SAFE Credit Union Convention Center, 1400 J St., Sacramento, Calif. 95814. Committed to providing the safest possible environment for guests, the Unified is following the most current COVID-19 health and safety requirements. To learn more about our safety protocol, visit the website or click on this link.

    Built with the joint input of growers, vintners and allied industry members, the Unified Symposium has served as a clearinghouse of information important to wine and grape industry professionals for 28 years. Unified also hosts the industry’s largest trade show of its kind, with more than 850 booths displaying supplier’s products and services. For more information, go to www.unifiedsymposium.org.