Torture orchard: Can science transform California crops to cope with drought? [Cal Matters]
There’s a hive of PhDs at the University of California at Davis who are working to reinvent food production in the Golden State. Researchers have fanned out across the globe collecting rare plant samples; others are grafting Frankenstein trees and stitching together root systems of plums and peaches to create better almond and walnut trees. Some scientists are deconstructing crime scenes of withered and dying plants, gathering clues about what killed them. Others deprive trees of moisture or douse them with salty water, stress-testing the plants to understand how much they can withstand at experimental fields. Whether in a sterile lab or in a dusty farm row, these projects are focused on one objective: saving water. Researchers are applying lessons learned from the last drought to enable the $50 billion agricultural sector to sustain itself in a new reality, where water use will not be dictated by state or federal regulators, but by nature and climate change. “It was a huge challenge for all farmers,” said Josette Lewis, chief scientific officer for the Almond Board of California, which represents the industry. “People in California agriculture recognize that, with the need to manage groundwater more sustainably and the uncertainty of surface water supply, the overall footprint of agriculture may change.”
https://calmatters.org/environment/2021/09/california-drought-farmers/
California bill aims to protect farmworkers from smoke. Some say it ‘isn’t going to help’ [Fresno Bee]
Lorena Moreno spent nearly a decade harvesting crops next to her husband in the Central Valley’s fields, bathed in sweat from working in the sweltering heat. In recent years, her husband, who is still laboring in the fields, has also been coming home with symptoms from an increasingly more present hazard — wildfire smoke. He arrives at their Fresno home wheezing and with his head throbbing, Moreno says. He’s often unable to open his itchy, irritated eyes and is congested from inhaling air polluted with poisonous microscopic particles caused by wildfires. It’s a troubling set of symptoms that are growing more common among a workforce that already faces many hazards on the job. That’s why some are now pushing for a bill moving through the California legislature that would give farmworkers reliable access to a steady stockpile of N95 masks, which protect against exposure to smoke. Many supporters of the legislation, including growers, say it could help ensure that farmworkers are working in safe and healthy environments, even as the state’s harvest and wildfire seasons increasingly merge. Introduced by Assemblymember Robert Rivas, D-Hollister, in December of last year, the Farmworker Wildfire Smoke Protections Act, also known as AB 73, would designate agricultural employees as “essential workers” to allow them access to a dedicated supply of N95 masks.
https://www.fresnobee.com/news/politics-government/article254114363.html
Sudden change in leadership at Santa Paula-based Calavo amid third-quarter loss [Ventura County Star]
Calavo Growers Inc., the avocado-industry giant based in Santa Paula, announced the immediate retirement of its CEO this week along with a third-quarter loss. Outgoing CEO James Gibson’s retirement, announced Wednesday, was effective Thursday. Gibson, who spent more than 10 years with the company and served as the company’s top executive since February 2020, will remain as an employee through the end of September. Wednesday’s announcement accompanied financial results for the third quarter, including a net loss of $13 million. The amount was less than the $15.6 million loss reported during the same quarter last year, but the company’s adjusted figures showed a different outcome: an adjusted net loss of $3 million during the most recent quarter compared to adjusted net income of $12.9 million a year earlier. Steven Hollister, Calavo’s newly appointed interim CEO and interim chief financial officer, said in a statement quarterly results were “adversely impacted by inflationary pressures on labor, raw materials and freight, all of which accelerated” during the third quarter. Delayed summer crops from California and Mexico also impacted margins and profitability, he said.
Opinion: Agtech equals opportunities for California’s multibillion-dollar agricultural industry [Bakersfield Californian]
Something exciting happened in the Central Valley recently. One of the largest and most powerful industry organizations for agriculture, Western Growers, launched the Agtech Workforce Readiness Campaign at Reedley College. Not surprisingly, the majority of the youth come from families who work in agriculture, whether it be the field, the packaging houses, or the office. To be sure, agriculture is the leading industry in the Central Valley and one of the largest producers of almonds (a $6 billion industry) and stone fruit in the U.S. As part of the new campaign, Western Growers will work with colleges and universities across the state to create a knowledge-based workforce centered on the fastest growing industries internationally — agtech, the marriage of agriculture, and innovation. Agtech includes any innovation that is designed to help farmers grow more efficiently. It is providing solutions to many of the threats that the agriculture industry is facing under climate change.
Record heat approaches Dust Bowl levels: How it is changing life in California [Los Angeles Times]
California and several other Western states experienced their hottest summers on record this year. Nationwide, the stretch from June to August tied with the 1936 Dust Bowl summer as the hottest on record, with temperatures across the country averaging 2.6 degrees above normal, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The grim conditions of the Dust Bowl years were more of an outlier, said Karen McKinnon, an assistant professor at the UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability, while the latest extremes belong to a larger warming trend. In fact, she said, the summer of 2021 was even hotter than mere extrapolation would suggest, leading some to question whether that warming is accelerating. California water regulators took unprecedented action this summer, passing an emergency regulation that will bar thousands of Californians from diverting stream and river water as the drought worsens. In Southern California, the Metropolitan Water District — which supplies water to some 19 million people across six counties — declared a water supply alert in August, calling on the region to conserve vital resources. The move came one day after U.S. officials declared the first-ever water shortage on the Colorado River, which is a key source of water for the region.
California’s Disappearing Salmon [Washington Post]
For centuries, spring-run Chinook salmon, among California’s most iconic fish, would rest for weeks in these historically cold waters after their brutal upstream journey. Then they would lay eggs and, finally, perish to complete one of nature’s most improbable life cycles. No longer. What once was a place where life began is now one of untimely death. Of the estimated 16,000 spring-run Chinook that made the journey from the Golden Gate Bridge to this curve in Butte Creek and others like it across the Central Valley, about 14,500 have died, nearly all of them before spawning. More will succumb in the next few weeks. The drought is enveloping much of the American West, where many places recorded their hottest July in history last month. The parched-brown landscape has become more normal than aberration in California, where the increasingly rapid shifts from cool to hot, wet to dry, are driving historically huge wildfires, deadly mudslides and new demands on water supplies. Along with thirsty crops, dried-out wells and mounting economic loss across the state’s agricultural heartland, the drought’s second desiccating year is also punishing California’s rich wildlife, from migratory birds to bears and elk looking for a drink.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/interactive/2021/california-disappearing-salmon/
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