After hazy weeks, threat of smoke taint lingers over Napa Valley grape crop [Napa Valley Register]
… The challenge is knowing whether grapes have actually absorbed the smoke around them, because the presence of smoke around vineyards by no means guarantees smoke-tainted grapes, researchers have said. … Growers around the North Bay are doing what they can to understand the impact of smoke on their crop this year. Almost all have turned to testing – many have sent grape or wine samples to the St. Helena-based ETS Labs. …This year’s demand has exceeded that surge expectation by “tenfold,” in part because most crop insurance policies now require smoke taint testing to trigger insurance payouts.
Smoky haze in the Valley preventing proper development pace for raisin crop [KFSN TV, Fresno]
The smoky haze which has settled over the Valley is keeping the raisin crop from developing at a normal pace. … Some grapes are just now being laid out to dry, so it may be an anxious wait for some Valley growers. When the sun is out, its heat can turn a grape into a raisin within two weeks. “The lower temps are hindering our drying time extremely,” says Dwayne Cardoza with the Raisin Bargaining Association. “All that smoke, we haven’t had very much sun.” Mold has become a concern for some of the raisins still drying.
https://abc30.com/raisin-crop-farming-agriculture-valley/6424850/
As wildfires continue, air quality impacts farmworkers — masks requirements vary [Marketplace]
… Farmworkers are still out in the fields keeping our food supply on track, while many of us have shut ourselves inside with air conditioners and purifiers. … In California, when small particle pollution gets this bad, the state requires employers to provide workers with a filtering mask — the N95s that are pretty much impossible to get now. “They were all diverted towards health care purposes, and so we were experiencing significant difficulties,” said Ryan Jacobsen, CEO of the Fresno County Farm Bureau. He said the state has given his office about half a million N95 masks to distribute.
Editorial: Wildfires and California policymaking [Southern California News Group]
… Climate change and one current product of it, last week’s record-breaking heat wave, are certainly exacerbating California’s fire problems, but there are simpler and more practical ways to deal with the latest scourge than to embrace a Green New Deal or other costly programs to address the climate of the entire Earth. In fact, many of the most promising solutions for the problems at hand are well within the purview of California officials. … The state and federal governments quietly signed an agreement last month to double the thinning of the state’s tinder-filled forests. … State officials can do other things, as well.
https://www.dailybulletin.com/2020/09/15/wildfires-and-california-policymaking/
Scientists: Water shortages in West likelier than previously thought [Associated Press]
There’s a chance water levels in the two largest man-made reservoirs in the United States could dip to critically low levels by 2025, jeopardizing the steady flow of Colorado River water that more than 40 million people rely on in the American West. After a relatively dry summer, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation released models on Tuesday suggesting looming shortages in Lake Powell and Lake Mead — the reservoirs where Colorado River water is stored — are more likely than previously projected. … The forecast could complicate already-fraught negotiations between Arizona, California, Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, Wyoming and Mexico over future shares of the river that supplies their cities and farms.
Despite new hurdles to jump, most local sectors report good yields [Colusa County Sun-Herald]
Like most every other part of life, the ag industry has felt the effects of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. “The impact … on California agricultural businesses was severe, unprecedented, and will continue to affect the industry for the coming months and years,” it was stated in the COVID-19 California Agricultural Economic Impact Analysis produced by the California Farm Bureau Federation. Still, it looks like most commodity markets in California are reporting successful harvests.
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