California food and farm workers next in line for COVID vaccine [Bay Area News Group]
… On Monday, Gov. Gavin Newsom said food and agriculture workers will be considered along with other people in the state’s Phase 1B distribution plan … On Monday, Monterey’s agricultural community – growers, unions and public health clinics – are meeting with the county’s Board of Supervisors to discuss possible strategies. For instance, growers are offering to host vaccination clinics, staffed by local doctors and nurses, to protect their workers, said Lauro Barajas, regional director for the United Farm Workers in the Santa Cruz, San Benito and Monterey Bay area. “It has been great teamwork,” said Barajas.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2021/01/25/food-and-farm-workers-next-in-line-for-covid-vaccine/
Farmworkers in West Fresno County receive COVID-19 vaccine [KFSN TV, Fresno]
The vaccination roll-out continued today in West Fresno County — as dozens of essential farm workers received the COVID-19 shot. … The county has set aside enough doses from the state to get up to 3,000 essential agriculture workers vaccinated this week but officials say that’s not enough when you consider Fresno County has between 70,000 to 90,000 people who toil in the fields. … Monday’s effort focused on essential farm workers but the County intends to get processing plant and meatpacking plant workers vaccinated in the coming days.
https://abc30.com/fresno-farmworkers-county-vaccine/10013230/
You can go wine tasting in the Bay Area again this week, but some wineries will remain closed due to rain [San Francisco Chronicle]
Wineries in the Bay Area, including in Napa and Sonoma, can now reopen for outdoor wine tastings after Gov. Gavin Newsom lifted mandatory stay-at-home orders throughout the state on Monday. But many vintners said they were planning to wait at least a week before hosting visitors again, in part because of heavy rain forecasts. … Tasting rooms are a vital revenue channel for California wineries, especially smaller-scale ones, and this year they became even more essential for those who had depended on wine sales to restaurants and bars.
https://www.sfchronicle.com/wine/article/You-can-go-wine-tasting-in-the-Bay-Area-again-15897229.php
Shipping carriers rejected tons of U.S. agricultural exports, opting to send empty containers to China [CNBC]
Shipping carriers rejected U.S. agricultural export containers worth hundreds of millions of dollars during October and November, instead sending empty containers to China to be filled with more profitable Chinese exports, a CNBC investigation found. The Federal Maritime Commission has received petitions from U.S. agricultural exporters warning that the delays in trade not only threaten profits but the reputation of the industry. The commission, in turn, launched an investigation and is reviewing the trade data out of key ports in California, New York and New Jersey to see whether the carriers’ refusal to load U.S. export cargo was a violation of the Shipping Act.
Atmospheric river in Central California could help drought conditions [KFSN TV, Fresno]
… Meteorologists are calling for an atmospheric river to arrive by Wednesday. “This actually looks like a very spectacular storm,” says Fresno County Farm Bureau CEO Ryan Jacobsen. “You don’t want to count it before it has actually dropped but as of right now the projections, particularly for the snowpack up the Sierra Nevada, look very healthy.” Water is essential to the Valley’s top industry and crop irrigation, so farmers like to see the storm clouds. They’ll offer a welcome change with most of the state under extreme or severe drought conditions.
https://abc30.com/central-ca-weather-california-rain-fresno-storms/10011811/
Opinion: California must change course to avoid water shortages [Southern California News Group]
… We can stipulate that conservation is an important element of any water strategy. But California would have never become an economic powerhouse had California’s current strategy of sharing scarcity been adopted during the twentieth century. … While water efficiency is critical, increasing water supply, including more water capture and storage, must be part of California’s water policy. Failing to acknowledge this is delusion.
https://www.dailybulletin.com/2021/01/26/california-must-change-course-to-avoid-water-shortages/
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