Farmworkers lose out on $1.5B COVID-19 safety funding after USDA springs surprise spending [Salinas Californian]
Farmworkers lost out on up to $1.5 billion in grants and loans for COVID-19 safety needs after the USDA committed funds earmarked as such for a food box program. … The reaction from ag, labor and congressional leaders was swift. Dozens of congressional leaders signed a letter urging the USDA to prioritize funding for farmworker safety. … “We were shocked by this development, to be quite honest,” stated Sara Neagu-Reed California Farm Bureau Federation (CFBF) Federal Policy Associate Director in an email to The Californian. CFBF immediately contacted their congressional delegation to pen the letter to the USDA requesting that any additional dollars be put towards the worker safety purpose, Neagu-Reed said.
Sage grouse review done, but scant time for Trump’s changes [Associated Press]
The Trump administration has completed a review of plans to ease protections for a struggling bird species in seven states in the U.S. West, but there’s little time to put the relaxed rules for industry into action before President-elect Joe Biden takes office. The ground-dwelling, chicken-sized greater sage grouse has been at the center of a long-running dispute over how much of the American West’s expansive public lands should be developed. A federal judge blocked the Trump administration in 2019 from its plans to relax rules on mining, drilling and grazing across millions of acres of land because of potential harm to the sage grouse.
CDFW Fall Trawl Survey yields no Delta smelt for third year [The Record, Stockton]
For the third year in a row, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife found zero Delta smelt in the agency’s 2020 Fall Midwater Trawl Survey throughout the Delta. … The survey samples 122 stations each month from September to December and a subset of these data is used to calculate an annual abundance “index,” a relative measure of abundance. … The fall midwater trawl is not the only survey that found low or zero numbers of Delta smelt in 2020.
Current drought conditions contributing to historically dry year [Turlock Journal]
The local region’s current water year is shaping up to be one of the driest on record according to Turlock Irrigation District, with below-average rainfall amplifying California’s existing state of drought. … With TID’s dry scenario predictions — which Cramer stated are optimistic given recent forecasts — Don Pedro elevation would sit at about 709.5 feet by the end of the calendar year, and at 792.6 feet should wet conditions unexpectedly arise. In both the dry and average scenarios, reductions in irrigation would need to be made, Cramer said.
Sonoma County in settlement talks with Skipstone Ranch Winery after record land-use fine [Santa Rosa Press Democrat]
Sonoma County is in settlement talks with representatives of a Geyserville vineyard and winery accused of flouting land-use rules last summer and facing a $172,282 fine, the largest ever issued by the county’s Department of Agriculture/Weights and Measures. Skipstone Ranch Winery, owned by billionaire tech entrepreneur Fahri Diner, was accused by the county of unpermitted grading on a steep Alexander Valley hillside that forms part of its 200-acre estate vineyard property.
India’s Supreme Court puts hold on farming laws to defuse protests [Wall Street Journal]
India’s Supreme Court put on hold new farm laws on Tuesday, seeking to end a standoff between Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government and the thousands of protesting farmers who have been blocking roads around the capital for more than a month. India’s highest court ordered that an expert committee be formed to make recommendations in the next two months and urged farmers to end the protests, saying they are exposing people to the cold as well as contributing to the spread of Covid-19. Farmers are demanding that the new laws, which were passed in September, be repealed.
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