Foster Farms shut down California facility over COVID-19. So why doesn’t it look closed? [Fresno Bee]
Foster Farms shut down its main chicken processing facility in Livingston on Tuesday evening amid a coronavirus outbreak that health officials say has claimed the lives of at least eight workers. About 1,400 employees were sent home with pay until at least Monday, Sept. 7, according to a statement by the company. … However, the complex employs around 3,700 people, and the other facilities will continue to run this week. … Bill Mattos, president of the California Poultry Federation, who toured the plant last week with the state treasurer, said the other buildings that will remain open include the packaging facility, the administration building, and storage, where packages are sent before loading them onto trucks.
https://www.fresnobee.com/news/coronavirus/article245412775.html
An extraordinary summer of crises for California’s farmworkers [National Geographic]
… For many, there is no choice but to keep working. This is the height of the picking season for many crops and the time of the year when farmworkers earn the bulk of their income. With few legal, health, or financial protections, but an “essential worker” designation that forces them to choose between being fired and working and risking exposure to the coronavirus, many farmworkers face pressures far beyond what they’ve had to deal with before.
California bill requiring coronavirus disclosures at work headed to governor’s desk [San Francisco Chronicle]
California companies and their employees have clashed throughout the pandemic over whether employers should tell workers if they have potentially been exposed to the coronavirus on the job. Now a bill passed by the Legislature and headed to the governor’s desk, AB685, seeks to clarify what companies must tell employees and state officials about such risks. … Business critics of the bill including the Western Growers, an Irvine association representing farmers in Arizona, California, Colorado and New Mexico, have questioned what “potential” exposure means and said that it is not clear what employers have to tell their workers when a case is identified.
Delta on the edge [San Francisco Chronicle]
… The delta is an unlikely frontier, and an even more improbable battleground. … This sleepy place, though, is waking, reluctantly and resoundingly, jolted by the state’s modern-day demand for water. Those who live here, where family farms span generations and a postman still delivers mail by boat, fear that looming changes could wipe out this singular slice of California and turn their figurative backwater into a literal one. … Gov. Gavin Newsom, like governors before him, wants to overhaul how water moves through the delta. … The pressures of climate change on water supplies have only increased the urgency to act.
https://www.sfchronicle.com/projects/delta-on-the-edge/part-one/
California lawmakers approve ban on popular rat poison that can kill mountain lions [Sacramento Bee]
A bill that seeks to protect mountain lions and other wildlife from being poisoned by a popular form of pesticide awaits Gov. Gavin Newsom’s signature. On Monday, the California Legislature approved Assembly Bill 1788, which bans, with few exceptions, the use of what are known as “second generation anticoagulant rodenticides” until state pesticide regulators develop plans to ensure they’re not harmful to wildlife. … The bill provides some exceptions for the continued use of the poisons on farms, food storage and processing facilities, medical centers, or when needed to keep rodents like the non-native swamp rats called nutria from tearing up levees.
https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/environment/article245421910.html
U.S. seeks Mexico talks over perishable imports in bid to bolster U.S. farmers [Reuters]
The Trump administration on Tuesday announced plans to seek senior-level talks with Mexico over imports of perishable fruits and vegetable as part of a broader series of actions meant to bolster U.S. farmers, raising the possibility of future tariffs. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) also will request that the U.S. International Trade Commission initiate a Section 201 global safeguard investigation to review “the extent to which increased imports of blueberries have caused serious injury to domestic blueberry growers.” … USTR said it would also seek talks with Mexico in the next 90 days to address concerns over imports of Mexican strawberries, bell peppers and other seasonal products.
