Column: As coronavirus spreads, how safe is a trip to the supermarket? [Los Angeles Times]
Timothy Blair was shopping at a Ralphs supermarket in West Los Angeles the other day, and he had the same thought that I and possibly many other people have had while traversing the produce aisles. Is it safe for all those fruits and vegetables to be out in the open, easily handled — and put back — by any number of strangers?…The question of supermarket food safety is one that’s received less attention but may be of growing concern as the virus spreads. Marion Nestle, a professor emeritus of nutrition, food studies and public health at New York University, said that “so far there is no evidence that coronavirus can be transmitted by food.” She added, however, that it’s “theoretically possible.”
https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2020-03-10/column-coronavirus-supermarkets
California Farm Bureau president wants everyone to know more about agriculture [KGPE TV, Fresno]
Talking with people face-to-face is an effective way to advocate for farmers in California: the message the president of the California Farm Bureau Federation brought to Fresno Rotary members on a visit to the city Monday….California Farm Bureau Federation President Jamie Johansson told Rotarians how important it is that everyone knows more about what’s going on in agriculture. “While we are a farm organization, more and more our most important role is to be a rural interpreter for a growing urban population.”
Farmers fear property tax changes under split-roll initiative [Fresno Business Journal]
… It turns out, the “split roll” initiative, titled the California Tax on Commercial and Industrial Properties for Education and Local Government Funding Initiative, which will be put before the voters this November, will apply to certain agricultural properties. While the split-roll measure will not be applied to the land or soil itself, it will be applied to any structures or improvements….“The heart of the matter in terms of how this is going to affect agriculture is that the authors of this proposition — the groups behind it — don’t really understand agriculture and how complex it is,” said Jamie Johansson, president of the California Farm Bureau Federation.
https://thebusinessjournal.com/farmers-fear-property-tax-changes-under-split-roll-initiative/
Where do Ventura County’s 36,000 farmworkers live? Officials don’t know [Ventura County Star]
Nearly 20 years ago, Ventura County surveyed farmworker households and their housing needs….The county now has 1,995 completed or expected farmworker housing units. But where do the county’s other approximately 36,000 farmworkers live? Officials don’t know, according to John Krist, CEO of the Farm Bureau of Ventura County. “We’re supposed to be experts about the farmworker population, but I can’t tell you how many farmworkers actually live in the county, exactly where they live, how many of them are permanent full-time workers and how many are here with their families,” said Krist, who also serves on the board of House Farm Workers….The organization is proposing a new study modeled after one recently conducted in Monterey County for the Salinas Valley and Pajaro Valley.
Nonprofits and officials to weigh options to boost local wood-based industry [Chico Enterprise-Record]
Local groups are hoping to bring more technologies that can use and commercialize wood products back to Butte County amid increased urgency around forest health….Government officials and experts are increasingly considering the development of new wood product industries to make use of the biomass coming out of forests. But many rural communities in California still lack the infrastructure and workforce following the decline of the timber industry and the closure of local sawmills and biomass power plants.
Opinion: Good news on farm water and the environment [San Jose Mercury News]
…Like the city of San Jose, our management of stormwater to protect health, safety, and the environment is regulated by the Regional Water Quality Control Board (RWQCB). On Jan 1, that board imposed even stricter limits on continued stormwater discharge from the region by issuing a new permit, one that will require stringent monitoring and reporting activities….We shall set to the task with the same determination, imagination, and coalition-forming skills we used to achieve zero agricultural discharge on the San Joaquin River. Another good-news story is in the works.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/03/10/opinion-good-news-on-farm-water-and-the-environment/
