The CEO Wants His Staff Vaccinated. He Also Worries They Will Quit [Wall Street Journal]
Produce giant Taylor Farms, has been engaged in an all-hands effort to cajole its 22,000 employees to be vaccinated against Covid-19, offering on-site vaccination clinics and cash incentives. With the help of a local union, the company has achieved a nearly 90% vaccination rate across its main Salinas, Calif., facilities, where workers run machines that cut, wash, and package raw vegetables such as broccoli and lettuce under brands including Earthbound Organic. Just over half of Taylor Farms workers in Florida and Texas have opted-in to the vaccine. Eleven company employees have died from Covid-19, the company says.
Western Drought Will Last Into Fall or Longer
The severe drought that has gripped much of the western half of the United States in spring and summer is likely to continue at least into late fall, government forecasters said Thursday. The outlook for September through November, prepared by meteorologists with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, suggests that above-average temperatures are likely across almost all of the West, except for Washington and parts of Idaho, Montana and North Dakota. Precipitation is expected to be below normal from the Southwest into the Rockies and the Northern Plains. Together that spells bad news for a part of the country that is already experiencing major effects of drought, including dwindling water supplies, stunted crops, barren grazing lands and exploding wildfires.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/19/climate/western-drought-forecast-noaa.html
Caldor fire threatens more towns as California blazes destroy more than 1 million acres [Sacramento Bee]
Before California has even entered peak fire season, the state has already passed a grim milestone: more than 1 million acres burned. A dozen large wildfires — including the monstrous Dixie fire and the destructive Caldor fire — as well as numerous smaller ones continue to char the landscape and turn thousands of residents into refugees. Several fires remain at minimal containment days and even weeks after igniting, spurred by hot, dry conditions that have parched vegetation and primed it to burn — often at rapid speed. After igniting more than a month ago, the massive, multicounty Dixie fire was only 35% contained Thursday morning. New fires seem to crop up almost daily. A pair of blazes — the Cache fire in Lake County and the French fire in Kern County — both erupted Wednesday, forcing swift evacuations. The Cache fire had burned 83 acres and was at least 30% contained Thursday evening, while the French fire had swelled to 3,223 acres with no containment, fire officials said.
‘It looked like hell.’ Stories of loss and survival from inside California’s Caldor Fire [Sacramento Bee]
The devastating Caldor Fire raged to the east Wednesday, displacing tens of thousands of people. The evacuees gathered in parking lots and outside emergency shelters, telling stories of narrow escapes along crowded highways and the homes they lost. Some said they would likely never rebuild in a state where rural towns are under constant threat from wildfires. By Thursday, the fire had grown to more than 65,000 acres and was threatening an estimated 6,900 homes, business and other buildings. Robert Troyer, 77, and his wife loaded their belongings along with their dog, Shiloh, and cat, Mouse, into their RV and drove to safety. “It looked like hell, I’ll tell ya,” Troyer said. Their home on Mt. Pleasant Drive did not survive the flames. Troyer said he and his wife will likely not rebuild and probably leave the state.
https://www.sacbee.com/news/california/fires/article253600503.html
As Temperatures Rise, So Do the Health Risks for California’s Farmworkers [California Healthline]
Leoncio Antonio Trejo Galdamez, 58, died in his son’s arms on June 29 after spending the day laying irrigation pipes in the Coachella Valley – another casualty in a dangerous business. “Farmworkers are at the front lines of climate change. And, in some instances, we’re seeing a perfect storm battering our workers: covid-19, wildfire smoke and heat,” said Leydy Rangel, a spokesperson for the United Farm Workers Foundation. And the temperatures are getting more extreme. On Aug. 4, three of the desert communities in the region surpassed their daily recorded highs, hitting 122 degrees Fahrenheit in Palm Springs and Thermal, and 120 in Indio. Thermal set a record for its hottest temperature ever for August at 121 degrees. California registered its hottest June and July. “If we start seeing above 120 degrees in any regular capacity, we’re really in uncharted territory. The human body is not designed to exist in that kind of heat,” said Dr. Andrew Kassinove, emergency department physician and chief of staff at JFK Memorial Hospital in Indio.
EPA Bans Pesticide Deemed Harmful to Children’s Brains [Wall Street Journal]
The Environmental Protection Agency is banning a farm pesticide widely used to control crop pests, which it says is toxic to children’s brains.
The ban would stop the use of the pesticide chlorpyrifos on all food, the agency said Wednesday. The action follows a Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling in April that the EPA would have to ban use of the pesticide on food if it couldn’t prove that its consumption was safe.
The insecticide is used throughout agriculture on crops including soybeans, almond trees, grapes, broccoli and cauliflower, and is potentially harming workers along with children, the EPA said. “Today EPA is taking an overdue step to protect public health,” Administrator Michael Regan said in a statement. “Ending the use of chlorpyrifos on food will help to ensure children, farmworkers, and all people are protected from the potentially dangerous consequences of this pesticide.”
Ag Today is distributed by the California Farm Bureau Marketing/Communications Division to county Farm Bureaus, California Farm Bureau directors and staff, for information purposes only; stories may not be republished without permission. Some story links may require site registration. Opinions expressed in stories, commentaries or editorials included in Ag Today do not necessarily represent the views of the California Farm Bureau. To be removed from this mailing list, reply to this message and please provide your name and email address. For more information about Ag Today, contact 916-561-5550 or news@cfbf.com.
