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A significant amount of funding from unclaimed Ag gas tax has been unaccounted for, and the Almond Alliance of California is working with legislature to ensure that these funds are properly utilized for the benefit of the Agricultural community and repairing the state highway system. Watch this Pacific Nut Producer video interview with Kelly Covello for more information.
Sacramento, Calif., (March 8, 2017) – The Leadership Farm Bureau Class of 2017—formally introduced today—has begun a year-long series of activities and training sessions focused on issues affecting California agriculture. The nine Farm Bureau members in this year’s class appeared at the annual California Farm Bureau Federation Leaders Conference in Sacramento.
The Leadership Farm Bureau program, sponsored by CFBF, includes six intensive sessions on relevant agricultural issues plus field-studies trips to both Northern and Southern California. Class members participate in personal-development, teambuilding and communications training, and advocate on behalf of Farm Bureau in both Sacramento and Washington, D.C.
This year’s class includes:
The Leadership Farm Bureau class will complete its program of activities in December, with graduation during the CFBF Annual Meeting in Garden Grove. For further information about the program, see www.cfbf.com/lfb.
Palm Springs, Calif., (March 8, 2017) – Officers with the California Highway Patrol responded to an unusual call on
Saturday when 911 calls began coming in about a cow trying to climb out of the trunk of a Honda Civic on the shoulder of eastbound I-10 near Banning.
Officers said the Honda Civic was stopped east of Highland Springs Avenue.
When officers arrived to the strange scene, the found one calf attempting to climb out of the open Honda’s trunk and another calf wedged in the back seat. Both calves had their hooves tied.
A Riverside County Brand Inspector with the Bureau of Livestock Identification – California Department of Food and Agriculture, helped officers remove the calves from the Honda. They haltered them under a large oak tree at that time.
Officers said the Honda had false registration tags and was registered to a residence in Tulare County, California. The car was impounded for evidence. The driver left the scene before officers arrived and hasn’t tried to recover the car from the tow yard.
Both of the calves were taken to a local ranch where they will remain while the brand inspector determines if and when the cattle were stolen.
Authorities said stealing livestock is a felony in California, and a conviction could result in thousands of dollars in fines along with up to a year in county jail.
Tulare, Calif., (March 8, 2017) – Calling High School Sophomores! As the 32nd Tulare County Farm Bureau Youth Leadership Class wraps up their experience, it is time for sophomores in Tulare County to apply for the 2017-2018 Youth Leadership Class. The deadline to apply is right around the corner by May 1, 2017.
TCFB’s Youth Leadership Program began in 1983 as an opportunity for juniors in high school to develop their leadership skills. Since then, the program has trained over 500 young adults, many of which have gone on to pursue agricultural fields of study in college and beyond.
Students are not required to have a connection to agriculture or Farm Bureau but should demonstrate an interest in developing leadership qualities and be able to take advantage of this program through active participation.
Participants must be able to commit to an eight-month program that features monthly seminars that focus on topics such as county and state government processes, leadership, team building, community service, and exposure to careers in agriculture. The program concludes annually with a Sacramento experience to visit our state’s capitol, meet with elected state officials, and participate in a lobbying exercise.
The application can be found at www.tulcofb.org by following the Application Forms tab. After the Youth Advisory Committee reviews the paper applications, students are selected for interviews, and the class is selected in early summer. Notification Letters are sent to all applicants, both chosen and those not chosen for the program.
For more information about TCFB’s Youth Leadership Program, email tcfb@tulcofb.org.
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The Trans-Pacific Partnership certainly had its pluses and minuses for Ag, but now with it gone, what does that mean for pistachio trade? Is President Trump going to negotiate a new trade agreement? Watch California Ag Network’s brief interview with Richard Matoian from American Pistachios as he explains the situation.
Sacramento, Calif., (March 7, 2017) – The complex challenges that the state’s Sustainable Groundwater Management Act aims to resolve don’t lend themselves to quick fixes. With the deadline for the first major step—forming “groundwater sustainability agencies” in affected basins—coming up in June, we asked Karen Ross, secretary of the California Department of Food and Agriculture, about progress to date.
PPIC: How are California communities doing in implementing the law so far?
Karen Ross: I’ve been very impressed with how implementation is progressing. Clearly, people realize it’s time to address groundwater sustainability, and they are working together at the local level because they prefer that to state action. This is a big undertaking because to address groundwater covers areas like land use and economic development for cities and counties. So the progress made on establishing the governance structure is just the first step. The next step is the hard part: putting together plans that will bring basins back into water balance. That will require very difficult decisions about how the resource is allocated and managed.
The state is supporting this process in a number of ways. Our colleagues at the Department of Water Resources (DWR) have a huge role to play in supporting the process by establishing guidance for governance structures and the criteria for what constitutes a sustainable groundwater plan. The state is backing that up with facilitation and financial support. For example, DWR awarded $6.7 million in grants last year to 21 counties for groundwater planning projects, and just last month the Department of Food and Agriculture and DWR announced a joint $6 million water efficiency grant program for agricultural water suppliers and farmers.
PPIC: What big challenges do you think will result?
KR: Some of the critically overdrafted basins will have challenges getting back into balance, and many of these areas are dependent on agriculture as the primary engine for their local economy. The state of the basins is directly impacted by the lack of surface water over time. Tough decisions will have to be made about demand management, potential fallowing, and how to balance the human impacts we saw during the drought, like drinking water supplies and jobs.
It won’t be easy to bring all parties to the table to address these issues―not to mention the specific trade-offs needed to bring the water supply back into balance. But we must ensure that all have a voice in determining the governance structure and taking part in the planning process. That is critical to success.
PPIC: What kinds of opportunities do you think will arise for communities implementing the law?
KR: I see a unique opportunity to unite communities in a deep and lasting way. This is a chance to help determine the future of their community. People must work together to maintain a thriving local economy, their quality of life, and environmental quality. What these communities face is daunting. While it is easy for me in my position to be optimistic about future progress in maintaining sustainability in a special part of California, we must all recognize that building resiliency for the long term will be hard work. But future generations will thank us—just as we owe previous generations a debt of gratitude for the vision, the leadership, and the investment they made in the infrastructure for agriculture and rural California that we enjoy today.
By Lori Pottinger March 01, 2017
Sacramento, Calif., (March 7, 2017) – You’re invited to the Department of Pesticide Regulation Integrated Pest Management Research Symposium in Sacramento, California.
When: Tuesday, March 21, 2017 ,
Where: College of Continuing Education – Modoc Hall (Willow Suite)
Time: 8:30AM – 4:30PM
Free parking passes will be provided on site., lunch will be provided and 5.5 hours of CE credit will be available.
To showcase research and outreach funded by DPR’s Grants Program for projects that developed integrated pest management (IPM) in both agricultural and urban situations, and contracts that explored facets of IPM of special interest to DPR, to bring the details and results of these projects to a wider audience, to encourage networking and collaboration among DPR grantees and contractors.
The symposium will be of interest to the community of California researchers in pest management, agricultural commodity groups, public health and related community organizations, and members of the general public.
Wednesday, March 15, 2017.
Sacramento, Calif., (March 7, 2017) – A lot of variation in the weather across the State as a departing Pacific system exerted its influence onto the State. Monday, heavy rainfall across the southern quarter of the State, with areas along the immediate coast receiving up to two inches of rain. Heavier rainfall fell in the coastal mountains immediately inland of the San Diego area, with locations receiving over five inches. Most of the deserts received a quarter inch of rain. Midweek was mostly dry, expect for light rainfall in a few southern coastal areas. By Friday, the next storm system arrived, with light showers falling on the northwestern mountains. Saturday and Sunday brought heavier precipitation, with up to one to two inches falling in the northern portion of the State, and up to one inch falling in the southern parts of the state outside of the deserts. Light snow was reported in the central Sierras on Monday before warming temperatures mid-week resulted in the first significant snowmelt of the season. Heavy snowfall returned by Saturday with twelve to eighteen inches of snow falling in the central and northern Sierras. Further south, three to six inches of new snowfall occurred, maintaining the pre-week snowpack level there. Mountain snowpacks continued to be very heavy with Lodgepole in the southern Sierras and the Tahoe area reporting snowcover of nearly seven feet.
Temperature highs were in the 30s to 40s in the mountains, 40 to 80s in the desert, 50s to 70s in the valley, and 60s to 70s along the coast. The temperature lows were in the 10s to 20s in the mountains, 20s to 40s in the valley, 30s to 50s in the desert, and 40s to 50s along the coast.
Growers continued to wait for fields to dry out sufficiently to resume planting winter grain and field crops. Reports of lodging in mature wheat fields due to the recent high winds and rain of last week. Alfalfa fields were flooded and recharging underground water.
Pruning, discing, weed control, and pre-bloom spraying continued where dry orchard floor conditions permitted. Olive groves were pruned. Pruning, tying, berm sanitation, and brush shredding continued as vineyard floors dried. Herbicides were applied in some vineyards. Early varieties of stone fruit, including cherries were blooming in Tulare County. Citrus harvest continued. Recent rains impacted the overall quality of the citrus. Orange groves were hedge-rowed and skirted. A few seedless tangerine groves were being netted to prevent cross pollination during the pending bloom.
As field conditions permitted walnut and pistachio orchards were pruned. Where dry enough cleanup of trees toppled by high winds began. Almond bloom was progressing with the southern portion of the state nearing completion. Rain and wind caused some almond petal drop.
Recent rains slowed some harvesting but broccoli, romaine, and red lettuce harvest continued in Imperial County. In Fresno County, winter onion and garlic fields were being fertilized and cultivated. In Tulare County, squash was being planted in hot tunnels. New fields were being prepared for spring planting. Strawberries continued to thrive.
Non-irrigated pasture and rangeland continued to improve with warming temperatures promoting forb and grass growth. Range was reported to be in excellent to fair condition. Supplemental feeding of livestock continued to wane as range conditions improved. Bees were active in almond orchards. Sheep grazed stubble fields, idle cropland, and dormant, alfalfa.
GRAPE CRUSH REPORT OVERVIEW
Information contained in this Report was supplied by processors to fulfill the reporting requirements of Section 55601.5 of the Food and Agricultural Code.
The Preliminary Grape Crush Report includes all grape tonnage crushed during the 2016 season. It also includes purchased tonnage and pricing information for grapes with final prices prior to January 10, 2017. The Final Grape Crush Report, to be published on March 10, will contain any late reports or corrections to the preliminary report. Please notify us of any corrections for the Final Grape Crush Report by February 22, 2017.
Details of the crushed tonnage, degrees Brix, and weighted average prices were reported by grape type and variety, as well as by grape pricing districts. The 17 districts refer to the area in which the grapes were grown as defined in the Administrative Code. A district map is located on the inside of the front cover.
Second Annual CAWG Foundation Gala to Raise Funds for Student Scholarships
SACRAMENTO – The California Association of Winegrape Growers (CAWG) Foundation will host its second annual CAWG Foundation Gala, which will feature a reception, silent auction and a friendly wine competition judged by California political leaders. It will be held at The Sutter Club in Sacramento on March 15 from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
The goal of the gala is to bring together California legislators, government officials and CAWG members to increase awareness of the foundation’s accomplishments and raise money for scholarships for children of California winegrape grower employees.
For the wine competition, legislators and government officials were invited to nominate California red or white wines. Nominated wineries that have confirmed for the competition so far include Beach House Winery, Bloomfield Vineyards, Claiborne & Churchill Winery, Cooper Vineyards, Doffo Winery, Fiddletown Cellars, Four Brix Winery, Gratta Wines, Iron Horse Vineyards, J. Lohr Vineyards and Wines, Michael David Winery, Oak Farm Vineyards, Opolo Vineyards, Rosenblum Cellars, Rusack Vineyards, Scheid Vineyards, The Steven Kent Winery, Wiens Family Cellar and Wilson Creek Winery. For event information, visit www.cawg.org (calendar and events).
“We were pleased with the enthusiastic response at last year’s event and wanted to build on that this year,” said CAWG President John Aguirre. “With the support of participating wineries and legislators and success in fundraising, we can make a difference in the lives of students by providing financial assistance for their education.”
Contacts:
About the California Association of Winegrape Growers Foundation
The CAWG Foundation is a nonprofit public benefit corporation. Each year the foundation awards two $8,000 four-year scholarships to students planning to attend a campus in the University of California or California State University system, and four $2,000 two-year scholarships to students planning to attend a California community college. Scholarships are awarded to high school seniors whose parent or legal guardian is employed by a California winegrape grower. The Robert Miller Memorial Scholarship is awarded to a student who resides on the Central Coast and plans to major in enology or viticulture at Allan Hancock College or Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. The foundation awards at least seven scholarships each year and has awarded $371,500 since its inception in 1998. For more information, visit www.cawgfoundation.org.
About the California Association of Winegrape Growers
CAWG provides industry leadership to advocate for public policies, research and education programs, and sustainable farming practices to enhance the business of growing California winegrapes. The organization represents the growers of more than 50 percent of the gross grape tonnage crushed for wine and concentrate in California. For more information, visit www.cawg.org.