Coronavirus forces farmers to destroy their crops [Wall Street Journal]
… As the coronavirus pandemic disrupts supply chains, American farmers are dumping milk, throwing out eggs and plowing under healthy crops. Produce suppliers are especially vulnerable to surpluses because fruits and vegetables are perishable and can’t be stored. … Lettuce producer Mark Borba, in Huron, Calif., said he has had to plow under 230 of 680 acres of recently harvested lettuce since the pandemic swept the country a month ago. … John Harris, president of Harris Farms in Coalinga, Calif., said his business has seen a drop in demand for lettuce, too, but that he is going to continue planting in hopes consumer buying habits rebound.
USDA let millions of pounds of food rot while food-bank demand soared [Politico]
Tens of millions of pounds of American-grown produce is rotting in fields as food banks across the country scramble to meet a massive surge in demand. … While other federal agencies quickly adapted their programs to the coronavirus crisis, the Agriculture Department took more than a month to make its first significant move to buy up surplus fruits and vegetables — despite repeated entreaties. … A handful of states, including Florida and California, set up online clearinghouses to try to match up excess food with need in their area, but the high volumes of surplus produce often can’t be absorbed by local food banks alone, making national distribution important for making even a dent in the waste.
Marin farm sector struggles as virus cripples food services [Marin Independent Journal]
Marin ranchers and farmers who supplied restaurants before the coronavirus pandemic are scrambling to find new buyers during the crisis. … Those affected most include vegetable farmers and dairy farmers whose milk is used to produce artisan cheeses. “I’ve heard they got hit pretty hard,” said Brian Dolcini, a Nicasio dairyman and president of the Marin County Farm Bureau, regarding the cheese producers. … Lewis said Marin farmers and ranchers who lost their restaurant business are now trying to sell directly to customers through farmers markets and over the internet, but the transition isn’t easy.
https://www.marinij.com/2020/04/26/marin-farm-sector-struggles-as-virus-cripples-food-services/
Caravan gives support to San Diego farmworkers during pandemic [KPBS, San Diego]
… On Saturday morning, dozens of San Diego residents gathered outside a strawberry field in North County. They were there to collect supplies such as face masks and detergents and to show their appreciation for the farm workers, most of them immigrants. … Three separate caravans of cars went out to farms in Vista, Carlsbad, and Oceanside to show their appreciation to farm workers, and to distribute the much-needed supplies. The event was inspired by a similar farm worker appreciation event in Watsonville, CA, earlier this month, which has also spread to other agricultural communities across California.
https://www.kpbs.org/news/2020/apr/25/caravan-gives-support-san-diego-farmworkers-during/
Workers at Hanford meat packing plant infected with coronavirus [Fresno Bee]
A Hanford-based meat packing plant has confirmed “several” employees have tested positive for coronavirus (COVID-19) and are being quarantined, a company official said Sunday. Central Valley Meat Company Vice President Mike Casey said in a statement that the workers were identified through the company’s daily pre-screening process. … Casey, who heads the company’s risk management and human resources, did not have a total number of workers who have tested positive, saying they are waiting for more test results. … The plant runs five days a week, processing more than 1,500 cattle a day.
https://www.fresnobee.com/news/coronavirus/article242305656.html
Opinion: Who grows our food and harvests it? Coronavirus causes us to look at the hands that feed us [Fresno Bee]
… The coronavirus exposes a simple fact we farmers have known about food: we are not alone. A food chain bonds and connects people to those who grow, distribute, prepare, deliver and use food, and now we’re threatened by major disruptions. Daily, Americans now are forced to ask, where does food come from? The pandemic demands our public to think systemically; we all survive because of a food network. … We have an opportunity to remedy inequities and generate incremental advancements in the food chain we are bound by. A transformation may be underway as we shelter in place and rethink the foods we eat.
https://www.fresnobee.com/opinion/opn-columns-blogs/david-mas-masumoto/article242245101.html
Opinion: Spotted owl controversy shows danger of worshiping at altar of science [Redding Record Searchlight]
… In 1992, the federal government marched forward with a plan to save the Northern Spotted Owl with little regard to the families who would be displaced. … Owl numbers are down to the point that now the biologists want to get rid of a larger more dominant species, the barred owl, to save them. … Now 30 years later we are faced with an almost insurmountable problem: Trees grow, the thing that all the biologists forgot to account for. In California, they grow fast and now we don’t even remove enough of them to stay even so that means that every year we are adding to our fuel and fire problem.
