For local farmers, business depends on restaurant alternatives [Half Moon Bay Review]
… A new report commissioned by the California Farm Bureau found that farms and ranches across the state are projected to lose between $6 billion and $9 billion due to the COVID-19 pandemic this year. … The study says that relative success depends on how reliant a farmer or industry is on restaurant versus retail sales. … San Mateo County Farm Bureau President B.J. Burns said it’s too early to know the total effects of the pandemic on local farmers, but he agrees that the distribution method makes a difference.
High COVID cases among Latinos has health officials worried for farmworkers & Ag industry [KBAK TV, Bakersfield]
Hispanics make up more than half of the positive coronavirus cases in Kern County. Many of them live and work in agricultural communities. “We talk about an agricultural community that is dependent on certain specific timelines of harvest seasons,” Tim Calahan Director of Public Relations for Clinica Sierra Vista said. A growing number of COVID-19 cases among Latino workers has the county worried about its farming industry. … Fear of deportation is another deterrent. … Calahan says immigration status is never brought up in the COVID-19 testing process.
At least 176 test positive for coronavirus at Ventura County farmworker housing complex [Los Angeles Times]
An outbreak of COVID-19 has left at least 176 residents and staff members infected at a farmworker housing facility in Ventura County. … The infected residents — all men, mostly in their 20s and 30s — either have mild symptoms or are asymptomatic. … The outbreak at the farmworkers’ housing complex occurred at Villa Las Brisas, which provides agriculture employers with temporary housing for their workers. … As concerns about the coronavirus rose, the housing facility implemented several preventive measures.
As coronavirus cases surge, California pauses multimillion-dollar testing expansion [Los Angeles Times]
In April, Gov. Gavin Newsom launched a multimillion-dollar state initiative to bring COVID-19 testing to the people and places with the least access: rural towns and disadvantaged inner-city neighborhoods. California is now halting its expansion, citing costs, even as the state is getting walloped by record-setting spikes in new infections and double-digit increases in hospitalizations. The state will no longer fund new testing sites, despite pleas from counties for additional assistance.
USMCA takes effect but North American trade tensions remain [Wall Street Journal]
The U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement kicks in Wednesday, but the culmination of years of negotiations won’t necessarily mean the end of trade tensions among the three North American nations. Even as the deal formally takes effect, contentious issues that prolonged the negotiations are re-emerging as sore spots. … The advocacy group Farmers for Free Trade hailed the USMCA with a virtual roundtable on Tuesday; but a number of participants, including U.S. lawmakers from farm states, questioned whether Canada would do enough to open up its dairy market.
Farmers dial back crop plantings as COVID uncertainty rocks markets – USDA [Reuters]
U.S. farmers planted nearly 5 million fewer acres of corn this spring than estimated by the U.S. government in March, the biggest cut in 37 years, as the coronavirus pandemic roils demand for the crop. The drop in corn seedings, as well as an 11.1% cut in cotton plantings, accounted for the bulk of the U.S. Agriculture Department’s 7.2 million-acre reduction to its estimate of the amount of major crops seeded this spring. … The drop in corn seedings was the biggest between the March intentions and actual plantings since 1983.
