California Farm Bureau on the state’s drought concerns [RFD-TV – Video]
Drought concerns are looming for California producers. Highlighting the second dry winter in a row, the Sierra Nevada snowpack is just 60 percent of its historical average for this time.
California Farm Bureau President Jamie Johansson speaks with RFD-TV’s own Tammi Arender on current conditions in the state, the ag implications, and what they are keeping an eye on moving forward.
https://www.rfdtv.com/story/43471234/california-farm-bureau-on-the-states-drought-concerns
Editorial: Newsom should kill plan to drain state reservoirs [San Jose Mercury News/East Bay Times]
… Powerful agribusiness interests are expected to pressure the governor to waive state water quality standards. Gov. Jerry Brown did just that in 2014 and 2015, sending additional water from the Delta to the Central Valley with devastating consequences to salmon runs and other wildlife. Newsom should let farmers know now that he plans to adhere to the state standards. … Newsom should do everything possible to protect the Delta for current and future generations.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2021/03/10/editorial-newsom-should-kill-plan-to-drain-state-reservoirs/
For U.S. farmers, China is back and bigger than ever [Wall Street Journal]
China is once again the U.S.’s chief customer for agricultural goods, three years after the start of a bruising trade war that prompted American farmers to try to wean themselves off their biggest market. Following a cease-fire between the world’s two largest economies last year, U.S. farmers are shipping record volumes of crops and meat across the Pacific. The surging agricultural exports are helping power a turnaround in the U.S. farm economy, lifting commodity prices and profits for agribusinesses, and fueling expectations that farmers will devote more land than ever for some crops.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/for-u-s-farmers-china-is-back-and-bigger-than-ever-11615372203?page=1
Kern supervisors approve mobile clinics for farm workers, new diversity director [Bakersfield Californian]
… The two mobile health clinics will be deployed by Kern Medical to various locations that are easy for agriculture workers to access. Operating outside standard business hours, the two clinics will try to make it easy for agriculture workers to be vaccinated as the spring growing season begins. … In the 5-0 vote, supervisors authorized both clinics to operate until the end of the year. … The board’s action takes place as more and more vaccines are becoming available to local residents.
Napa Valley’s smallest farms have long been closed to tourists. A new law may change that [San Francisco Chronicle]
Napa Valley’s smallest winegrowers may soon be able to host tastings at their vineyards — which they say is a vital lifeline for keeping the region’s family farms viable, and a boon for those who don’t want to see Napa’s landscape overtaken by larger corporate interests. It’s a battle that one group of farmers has been fighting for more than three years. The county’s Board of Supervisors decided last week to explore the issue, and they plan to have an ordinance ready by August to create a new “micro-winery” classification for these smaller operations.
Editorial: California’s monarch butterflies could disappear, unless we act now [Los Angeles Times]
… Habitat loss, pesticide use and climate change have whittled down the monarch butterfly population nationwide, but monarchs west of the Rocky Mountains have been especially hard hit. There’s a very real possibility that the western population could disappear. Yet despite the dire situation, monarch butterflies do not have endangered-species protections. … It’s inexcusable to allow such an iconic species to dwindle before our eyes. Monarch butterflies deserve immediate protection.
https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2021-03-10/monarch-butterfly-protections
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