Delivery boxes, school lunches: Coachella Valley farmers get creative during coronavirus [Palm Springs Desert Sun]
… The valley’s farmers are far from immune as the pandemic drags on, and some have already resorted to disking, the process of tilling plants back into the soil when they would otherwise sell for a substantial loss or rot. Certain crops, such as table grapes, were already facing difficult market forces before the virus struck, deluging the industry with instability. … The California Farm Bureau Federation, which represents farmers who produce more than 400 different crops around the state, surveyed about 500 of its members in April and found that more than half had either lost business or seen their revenue decline since the pandemic began.
California seniors get free restaurant meals delivered under new program [Reuters]
… California Governor Gavin Newsom announced the project in late April with the stated goals of serving a population vulnerable to COVID-19; boosting employment from farm to kitchen; and generating much-needed tax revenue for cities. … “Anything like this helps (to make sure) food waste is minimized and our communities are helped – whether that’s a farmer or a senior citizen who is at home alone,” said Jamie Johansson, president of the California Farm Bureau Federation.
Rural California is reopening despite little coronavirus testing. Is it too soon? [Los Angeles Times]
Bolstered by new coronavirus testing sites recently opened by the state, 23 rural California counties this week began to shake off some of their social restrictions and resume a semblance of pre-pandemic life. … But testing in many of those places has been slim, both due to a lack of access and demand, leaving questions about how much the coronavirus is circulating in communities. … California is engaged in an unprecedented statewide experiment, easing off social-distancing restrictions in some places, while keeping them firm in others. … Throughout the state, as the inequity of opening takes shape, tensions will likely grow.
California undocumented immigrants can apply for COVID-19 relief starting Monday [Bay Area News Group]
California is home to more than 2 million undocumented immigrants who aren’t eligible to receive unemployment or stimulus checks from the government. But the state has set up funding to help support them during the coronavirus crisis, providing $125 million through a public-private partnership. … The application period begins Monday and runs through June 30. The one-time payments will be $500 per adult, with a cap of $1,000 per household.
California minimum wage would continue to go up under Gavin Newsom’s proposed budget [Sacramento Bee]
California’s minimum wage increases will continue as planned, having escaped the chopping block in Gov. Gavin Newsom’s revised 2020-21 budget. … Several business groups had called on Newsom to delay the wage increase as the coronavirus outbreak drove the state’s economy into recession and put millions of Californians out of work. The 2016 state law that called for escalating minimum wage increases allows the governor to suspend them if unemployment rises or sales tax receipts decline.
https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article242764646.html
California’s budget cuts threaten environmental spending [Associated Press]
California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s proposed budget cuts include canceling billions of dollars in climate change spending, a blow to environmental advocates who look to the state as a stopgap for the Trump administration’s weakening of federal protections. … The administration chose to protect programs to clean up the air in disadvantaged communities and to provide safe drinking water. … The biggest cut was scrapping a proposal to borrow $4.75 billion to prepare the state for climate-change disasters like sea level rise that threatens the coastal cities and devastating wildfires that have destroyed tens of thousands of buildings and killed more than 100 people.
https://apnews.com/5eda93a3d226a774a4588e650fa7079f
Farming it forward: SJ food bank gets boost from Farmers to Families program [Stockton Record]
The Emergency Food Bank of Stockton/San Joaquin County on Friday became one of the first in California to receive boxes of produce from the USDA’s $1.2 billion Farmers to Families Food Box Program, aimed at easing food insecurity and supporting farmers during the COVID-19 pandemic. State and local dignitaries gathered as a truck pulled into the food bank’s parking lot carrying 650 boxes filled with fresh vegetables Friday.
