Drought conditions returning to California, new report shows [Bay Area News Group]
Driven by weeks of unusually dry weather, the federal government on Thursday classified parts of California as back in a drought for the first time since last year. Altogether, 9.5% of the state’s land area is now in a moderate drought, with forecasts showing no rain in most of the state for at least the next 10 days. The area classified as in moderate drought Thursday was in the Central Valley, covering roughly 10 million acres from Tuolumne County to Kern County….The new report does not mean, however, that California is heading back into the type of harsh conditions that occurred during the state’s historic drought from 2012 to 2017.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/02/13/drought-conditions-returning-to-california-new-report-shows/
‘It’s terrifying’: Young ranchers worried for agriculture future in Butte [Chico Enterprise-Record]
Young ranchers and farmers in Butte County join other areas of California in facing financial burdens from water shortages, climate issues and a changing market, according to a new study by the U.S. Department of Agriculture….Megan Brown of Table Mountain Ranch said she is worried there will be no water next summer to keep her several hundred beef cattle, as well as six milk cows and a group of pigs, on the land….Another fairly young, multigenerational ranch, Foster Ranch, is owned by Holly Foster, who echoed Brown’s concerns about meeting current prices as well as being able to maintain enough land for cattle and support a family.
After a nuisance mountain lion is killed, two L.A. city leaders want to end the practice [Los Angeles Times]
Two Los Angeles City Council members are pushing to end the permitted killing of mountain lions after one of the big cats was put down in the Santa Monica Mountains last month. Along with seeking to halt depredation permits, which allow lethal action against cougars, Councilmen Paul Koretz and David Ryu announced Tuesday they were asking that the city support listing Southern California and Central Coast mountain lions as threatened under the California Endangered Species Act….A property owner in the area had reported nine attacks over two years that resulted in the loss of 12 animals, mostly sheep and lambs, despite efforts to secure the property, according to Fish and Wildlife.
Mad cow fright keeps EU cautious on food rules [Reuters]
The specter of the 1990s BSE crisis means the European Union is likely to reject U.S. demands it ease strict food safety rules, even with President Donald Trump threatening car tariffs if EU countries do not start importing more U.S. farm products. With European food and farming exports to the United States worth up to $12 billion a year more than imports, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue told the EU last month it should adapt its food regulations to reflect “sound science”. But there seems little prospect Brussels will agree.
Monsanto cancer case pits federal product label against California law [San Francisco Chronicle]
As Monsanto challenged a $78.5 million damage award to a Bay Area groundskeeper who was stricken with cancer after spraying the company’s herbicide, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra stepped into the case Wednesday, telling a state appeals court that the verdict was validly based on state laws requiring warning labels for cancer-causing chemicals….A central issue is whether the suits could rely on California law, which classifies glyphosate as a carcinogen, or should have been dismissed under federal law because the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency considers it a safe chemical. In a filing with the First District Court of Appeal in San Francisco supporting the plaintiff, Dewayne “Lee” Johnson, Becerra’s office argued that the EPA’s statements about glyphosate, and its approval of a product label without cancer warnings, “do not carry the force of law.”
A growing presence on the farm: Robots [New York Times]
…Automation has always been a big part of agriculture, from the first seed drills to modern combine harvesters. Farm equipment is now regularly outfitted with sensors that use machine learning and robotics to identify weeds and calculate the amount of herbicide that needs to sprayed, for instance, or to learn to detect and pick strawberries. Lately, smaller, more dexterous robot have emerged in droves….“All of a sudden, people are starting to realize that data collection and analysis tools developed during the 90s technology boom can be applied to agriculture,” said George A. Kantor, a senior systems scientist at Carnegie Mellon University, who is using his own research to develop tools for estimating crop yields.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/13/science/farm-agriculture-robots.html?searchResultPosition=1
