Farmers aren’t happy with California’s COVID-19 workplace rules [Sacramento Bee – 4th item]
Agricultural employers are suing California’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health, commonly called Cal/OSHA, over the state’s COVID-19 emergency workplace rules. … “These regulations will disrupt food supply operations all along the line, but it will be especially hard on our 20,000 small family farming members,” said Jamie Johansson, President of the California Farm Bureau Federation, in a press release announcing the lawsuit.
https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article248178870.html
New Calif. workplace law to help cope with COVID met with opposition [KTVU, Oakland/San Francisco]
… Under assembly bill 685, a business must notify employees within a day of learning of any potential COVID-19 exposure at that workplace. It must also offer them information on benefits such as workers’ compensation and sick leave. … But many statewide business and trade groups fought against the bill, including the California Farm Bureau and the California Chamber of Commerce, which said in a recent letter to lawmakers the wording is unclear.
https://www.ktvu.com/news/new-calif-workplace-law-to-help-cope-with-covid-met-with-opposition
State issues $77,500 in fines in aftermath of outbreak at Primex nut plant in Wasco [Bakersfield Californian]
California’s workplace safety agency has issued fines totaling $77,500 against the owner of a Wasco nut processing plant and three local labor contractors after an investigation concluded they didn’t do enough to protect employees last spring and summer in what became one of Kern County’s highest-profile COVID-19 outbreaks. Citation reports by the Department of Industrial Relations allege the companies lacked a plan for protecting workers from the pandemic or failed to properly train employees on COVID-19 safety measures, or both.
Proposed agreement could boost funds to fix Friant-Kern Canal [Bakersfield Californian]
In what was hailed as a “landmark agreement,” farmers in an area of southern Tulare County blamed for sinking the Friant-Kern Canal from excessive groundwater pumping will chip in a hefty amount to help pay for a fix. How hefty could be decided by their payment choice. A longer term payment option would be $200 million. But a lump sum option could cost only $125 million, a 37.5% discount, according to a proposed settlement agreement between the Eastern Tule Groundwater Sustainability Agency and the Friant Water Authority.
Wall Street eyes billions in the Colorado’s water [New York Times]
… Transferring water from agricultural communities to cities, though often contentious, is not a new practice. Much of the West, including Los Angeles and Las Vegas, was made by moving water. What is new is for private investors — in this case an investment fund in Phoenix, with owners on the East Coast — to exert that power. … From the Western Slope of the Rockies to Southern California, a proliferation of private investors like Greenstone have descended upon isolated communities, scouring the driest terrain in the United States to buy coveted water rights.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/03/business/colorado-river-water-rights.html
Opinion: Wall Street can now bet on the price of California water. Watch out [Los Angeles Times]
… Here’s what the market can do — and perhaps more important, not do. The futures contract will do nothing to increase the supply of water. Nor will it facilitate moving water from one place to another. Holders of the contract upon expiration can’t take delivery of water, and sellers of the contract won’t provide any. … The new water contract circumvents that complexity because it can only be settled in cash. On expiration day, money — but not water — flows from those who have made a loss on their contract to those showing a gain. That can be useful for water users such as growers seeking to lock in a price for the water they’ll need in the future.
https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2021-01-03/wall-street-california-water-futures
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