Here’s what California lawmakers want to do to prevent the wildfire crisis from getting worse [Capital Public Radio, Sacramento]
… The ongoing threat that wildfires pose for people that live across the Golden State has pushed lawmakers to introduce a dozen bills so far this legislative session to potentially prevent the wildfire crisis from getting worse. … Preventing wildfires is perhaps the loudest cry of the bills in the legislature this session. … In response to the recent devastating wildfire seasons, a group of state lawmakers say agricultural workers need to have a designated supply of face masks to protect them from the smoke of mega-blazes.
Groups ask court to restore protections for US gray wolves [Associated Press]
Wildlife advocates on Thursday asked a federal court to overturn a U.S. government decision that stripped Endangered Species Act protections for wolves across most of the nation. Two coalitions of advocacy groups filed lawsuits in U.S. District Court in Northern California seeking to restore safeguards for a predator that is revered by wildlife watchers but feared by many livestock producers. … Wolves remain absent across most of their historical range and the groups that filed Thursday’s lawsuits said continued protections are needed so wolf populations can continue to expand in California and other states.
https://apnews.com/article/billings-lawsuits-wildlife-wolves-courts-cf76716ad6bf7f169300dfc7471ca081
Sonoma County wine grape pricing rises, partly stabilizes in early 2021, reversing oversupply [North Bay Business Journal]
North Coast vineyard operators caught a glint of hope Thursday for better sales of grapes and at higher prices this year, even while dealing with the continued threat of the coronavirus to their crews and reeling from the devastating impact of the wildfires on sales of 2020 fruit. But it was a bittersweet forecast at Sonoma Winegrowers’ Dollars & Sense annual seminar. … Rep. Mike Thompson, D-St. Helena, told seminar-goers that he’s seeking reauthorization of a federal program that would indemnify crop losses from the 2020 wildfires and other disasters.
Popular organic weed-control product found to include banned chemicals [Napa Valley Register]
… Many organic-certified farmers from around the country snapped up the co-packaged product called Agro Gold Weed Slayer (WS) and began to apply it to their fields. So did some local organic wine-grape farmers in the Napa Valley, using the product to keep their vineyard weeds at bay. … But on Dec. 4, the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) took the rare step of issuing a stop-use order for Agro Gold WS — made by Florida-based Agro Research International, LLC (ARI) — when it was found to include diquat and glyphosate, two synthetic chemicals not allowed in organic farming.
A year on, China falls short on trade-deal targets [Wall Street Journal]
The U.S.-China trade pact signed a year ago is being credited for improving business conditions for some American companies, even if a cornerstone of the deal—China’s commitment to greatly increase purchases of U.S. goods—has fallen short. … Under the purchase agreement of the phase one deal, China did a better job of increasing imports of agricultural products than manufacturing and energy products. According to Mr. Bown of Peterson Institute, China met 67% of the target amount for agricultural products through November but only 52% for manufactured goods and 31% for energy products.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/a-year-on-china-falls-short-on-trade-deal-targets-11610706602?page=1
Opinion: No ducks….Blame habitat, farming and Sacramento rice fields [Bakersfield Californian]
… The waterfowl season thus far has been no different than the last three or four that I have mentioned in columns. Just no ducks in the air for hours on end. … I blame this on three very distinct happenings over the years. The first is loss of habitat in this area. … The second reason for the decline is the type of farming that is being done now as compared to years ago. … The last reason, I think for the decline, falls on the shoulders of the Sacramento area rice farmers. … Birds that would normally continue into the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley to forage for food, now began to spend the winter eating daily on the flooded rice fields.
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