U.S. to remove penalties for accidentally killing migratory birds [Wall Street Journal]
The Trump administration is removing criminal penalties for accidentally killing migratory birds, reversing longstanding federal policy in a move officials say will help landowners and businesses. … Business groups and local government officials have pushed for the change, saying criminal penalties are too harsh for accidental deaths. But it comes at a time when bird populations are plummeting, facing threats from climate change and habitat loss. … The National Ocean Industries Association, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the American Farm Bureau Federation are among the business trade groups to support the change.
Tulare County leaders push for farmworkers to receive COVID-19 vaccine priority [Visalia Times-Delta]
Tulare County and city leaders want farmworkers to be among the first eligible to receive one of two COVID-19 vaccines, arguing that the essential workers are critical to the region’s economy and the nation’s food supply in a letter addressed to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office. The farmworker population has been particularly ravaged by the pandemic in Tulare County, testing positive for the coronavirus at a rate seven times higher than the general public. … Until the vaccine becomes widely available to all essential workers, county leaders said they have worked to make resources available for farmworkers who have often borne the brunt of the pandemic across the Central Valley.
Congressman McCarthy announces funding and water for Tulare County farmers [The Sun-Gazette, Exeter]
Congressman Kevin McCarthy announced a host of provisions pertinent to Kern and Tulare counties from the fiscal year 2021 appropriations and COVID stimulus bill. … Among the stimulus relief provisions was $13 billion to provide financial assistance to America’s agricultural producers, a welcome sight according to Tricia Stever Blattler, executive director of the Tulare County Farm Bureau. “It does add some dollars to the existing specialty crop block grant program, and local agriculture market program,” Stever Blattler said. “Certainly specialty crop funding hits really close to home.”
Gallo finalizes $810 million purchase from Constellation, one of the biggest wine acquisitions in modern history [San Francisco Chronicle]
Nearly two years after a deal was first announced, E. & J. Gallo’s mega-acquisition of 30 wine brands including Ravenswood, Mark West, Manischewitz and Clos du Bois from Constellation Brands is finally going through — though it doesn’t quite look like what the two companies initially planned. The Federal Trade Commission objected to the original, $1.7 billion deal on the grounds that it would “substantially lessen competition in the United States” for six product categories, because the two companies control so much of the wine market. … Even in its more modest form, however, the deal still represents one of the most significant wine acquisitions in modern history.
https://www.sfchronicle.com/wine/article/Gallo-s-810-million-buyout-of-Constellation-s-15848584.php
Lodi wine community happy to see 2020 in rearview mirror [The Record, Stockton]
COVID-19. Smoke. Drought. The year 2020 was one to remember or forget, depending on whom you ask in the Lodi wine community. The pandemic forced wineries to close tasting rooms and cancel events. Unprecedented wildfires in size and number blanketed the Central Valley with smoke, and rainfall was about half of normal. Yet, Lodi’s wine grape growers and wineries persevered. … “The No. 1 priority is to take care of our workers and make sure they work in a safe environment,” said Joe Valente, manager of John Kautz Farms, the growing operation for Ironstone Vineyards.
Opinion: Water markets critical to managing scarcity [Southern California News Group]
… Critics of these markets have chosen an easy path of derision instead of understanding how these markets actually work. Water has always been scarce. Water markets are simply a means of understanding that scarcity by pricing it. What is new is the creation of a new financial instrument on top of those underlying water markets and it is called a futures contract. … Markets won’t solve droughts, but they do help farmers and cities to manage their repercussions.
https://www.dailybulletin.com/2021/01/05/water-markets-critical-to-managing-scarcity/
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