UC Berkeley water report sinks California farm industry says valley assemblyman [KMJ Radio, Fresno]
A groundbreaking new report released Monday afternoon spells out the economic disaster for farmers in the Central Valley and statewide as a result of California’s water policies. The report done by University of California, Berkeley, economists Dr. David Sunding and Dr. David Roland-Holst shows that the California economy will suffer unless responsible, balanced water reforms are enacted in the effort to achieve groundwater sustainability goals in the San Joaquin Valley….The report was supported by the “Water Blueprint for the San Joaquin Valley”, a broad coalition of local governments, academic institutions, water users, and others working toward achieving balanced solutions that limit economic, community, and environmental impacts.
February ranked among the driest on record across California. Forecasters hopeful for a ‘miracle March’ [Los Angeles Times]
After one of the driest Februaries on record across much of California, the first day of March brought a dash of rain and a dusting of fresh powder to the parched landscape….Sunday’s rain was the most precipitation some areas have seen in at least a month. A high-pressure ridge that’s lingered over the eastern Pacific Ocean for much of January and February has rerouted winter storms that typically soak California to the Pacific Northwest. That pattern appears to be shifting, which could allow more storms through, but it’s unclear how long it will last.
Food grown without dirt isn’t organic, farmers say in lawsuit [Bloomberg]
Food activists and farmers sued the Trump administration over its decision to let hydroponic operators use the prized “organic” label. The Center for Food Safety and farmers from Maine to California say in the lawsuit that the decision “undermines the very integrity” of the country’s organic food label — “that consumers trust and that organic farmers rely upon.”…Under federal rules, organic crops — aside from being grown without pesticides and other harmful chemicals — must foster “soil fertility,” according to the lawsuit filed Monday in U.S. District Court in San Francisco. But how can you foster soil fertility without soil, the farmers asked.
Researchers encourage awareness of grapevine pest among California’s growers [Napa Valley Register]
California’s grape growers should be on the lookout for a potentially serious pest in the state, scientists and researchers say. They’re referring to the spotted lanternfly, just last month designated as a wine grape pest by the California Department of Food and Agriculture’s Pierce’s Disease/Glass-Winged Sharpshooter Board….An unofficial report of a living, adult spotted lanternfly in Davis emerged in September of last year, AgNet West, an agribusiness publication reported last week. Only dead pests, found in the hulls of cargo planes coming from infested areas on the East Coast, had been previously been found in California.
Chief warns public to take care with plastic after noxious fire smoldered through weekend [Salinas Californian]
A Monterey County Regional Fire District chief warned the public to take care with used agricultural plastic after a noxious fire smoldered through the weekend. Firefighters worked for 24 hours to extinguish a fire on Natividad Road this weekend after it spread to a pile of rolled-up plastic that had been used to cover strawberry fields….Piles of plastic are often stacked up all around Salinas and Monterey County on remote fields such as the one that suffered the fire Saturday. While the plastic used in agricultural production is often high-quality, the use of pesticides makes it difficult, if not sometimes impossible, to recycle.
Opinion: Two words environmentalists, Valley growers should agree on: regenerative farming [Fresno Bee]
I have a two-word solution that could help enemies to become friends, to help farmers to make money, and to save the planet: regenerative agriculture. Regenerative agriculture actually pulls excess carbon out of the atmosphere and puts it back into the ground, where it came from. Regenerative ag also absorbs more rainfall into the ground, where we need it, which reduces topsoil erosion. Regenerative ag reduces farmers expenses to help them to become more profitable…
https://www.fresnobee.com/opinion/readers-opinion/article240809141.html
