National security issue’: What Congress wants to give farmers for coronavirus downturn [McClatchy News Service]
Don’t let bought-out grocery shelves fool you — farmers are having a lot of trouble because of the novel coronavirus. … But farmers have been mostly left out of the economic stimulus packages President Donald Trump has signed so far. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco, says farmers are going to be a priority in the next bill Congress passes. … The main thing farmers say they need right now is loans. Their prices have taken a hit but they don’t want to lay off employees who they need for their typical farm operations.
https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/article241920611.html
California dairies dump milk, crops may be left to wither as coronavirus pandemic disrupts food system [San Francisco Chronicle]
… While food continues to be produced on the nation’s farmland during the coronavirus pandemic, the subsequent lockdown of society has caused a seismic shift in what people are buying and eating, and distribution networks haven’t kept up. … Few farms have gone unfazed by the tumult. Some have fared better than others, leveraging spikes in demand that have come with recent panic shopping and hoarding. … The dairy industry, with its sprawling yet rigid distribution network, may be the hardest hit.
Food bank demand soars, while many San Joaquin Valley farmers forced to let crops rot [Fresno Bee]
… The coronavirus has forced the entire world into disarray, but the food industry in particular. With restaurants closing or reshaping business models around slimmed-down take-out menus, the dominoes are starting to fall on farmers who suddenly have nowhere to take their food. And as more people find themselves out of work, food banks are teeming with hungry families. But getting food from fields to the hungry families that need it isn’t as simple as it sounds, industry experts say.
https://www.fresnobee.com/news/local/article241807661.html
Local agriculture industry facing coronavirus shock [KBAK TV, Bakersfield]
While businesses across the county are facing unprecedented challenges in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, one of those hardest hit could be the agriculture industry. “This is a challenge like we’ve never seen,” John Moore, president of the Kern County Farm Bureau said. … “Our membership, and the Kern County Farm Bureau, and producers throughout the state, throughout the country are doing their best to provide a safe and stable food product that’s going to help them get through this time and help them get through their day,” Moore said.
https://bakersfieldnow.com/news/local/local-agriculture-industry-facing-coronavirus-shock
Sonoma County farmers forced to adjust to remain viable during the coronavirus pandemic [Santa Rosa Press Democrat]
… Agriculture is deemed an essential business in California, so Sonoma County farmers are working and implementing additional worker safety measures to keep production rolling in a crucial sector producing more than $1 billion worth of products a year. The ag industry is heavily regulated, so the transition to additional worker protections hasn’t been that disruptive, said Tawny Tesconi, executive director of the Sonoma County Farm Bureau. … Still, across the vineyards and farms of Sonoma County, each part of the ag sector is experiencing its own disruptions in the marketplace, many of which have temporarily forced operational changes.
https://www.pressdemocrat.com/business/10884150-181/sonoma-county-farmers-forced-to
Protected in the fields but not at home: Salinas H-2A farmworkers at risk [Salinas Californian]
… While they are taking precautions in the fields, many H-2A farmworkers live in unsanitary, overcrowded conditions, the perfect recipe for an outbreak during a pandemic. … An April survey by the Centro de los Derechos del Migrante (CDM), a migrant workers’ rights organization based in the U.S. and Mexico, found that 45% percent of H-2A workers faced overcrowded and unsanitary housing conditions … While lawmakers, the agricultural industry and advocates agree on the problems facing farmworkers, they disagree on what measures should be enacted to keep them safe.
White House seeks to lower farmworker pay to help agriculture industry [NPR]
New White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows is working with Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue to see how to reduce wage rates for foreign guest workers on American farms, in order to help U.S. farmers struggling during the coronavirus, according to U.S. officials and sources familiar with the plans. … The most recent push to lower wage rates for workers on H-2A visas has drawn pushback from some strange bedfellows: immigrant-rights advocates and immigration hard-liners usually aligned with Trump.
