41-year-old family winery destroyed by fast-moving Glass Fire in Napa Valley [Sacramento Bee]
A fast-growing Napa Valley wildfire has consumed the Chateau Boswell winery, video shows. The Glass Fire, which ignited early Sunday morning, has blackened 2,500 acres with 0% containment, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. … The Rombauer Vineyards lie just across the Silverado Trail from Chateau Boswell, and Duckhorn Vineyards are a mile south, Wine Spectator reported. Chateau Boswell is one of a handful of family-owned private wineries in the Napa Valley, according to its website.
https://www.sacbee.com/news/california/fires/article246062545.html
Are Salinas farmworkers protected from wildfires? [Salinas Californian]
… Farmworker advocates use Spanish language social media platforms to reach out to more than 50,000 agriculture workers and collect feedback on whether or not they’ve received N95 masks, according to Marc Grossman, a spokesperson for the UFW. Grossman added that an unofficial survey showed 92% of respondents said they had not received masks. … Barajas believes the solution is twofold: To implement new laws to protect farmworkers while enforcing existing laws. He noted that when the Cal/OSHA offices are far away, in places like Los Angeles and Sacramento, it can be difficult.
Opinion: Farm workers in Fresno County need more than PPE to survive the COVID-19 pandemic [Fresno Bee]
… We are risking our lives — literally killing ourselves — to feed the nation. … Gov. Newsom recently announced $52 million to fund strike teams in the Valley to help stop the spread of COVID-19, but we need more than that. We need rental assistance and relief, and resources directed toward testing and direct income. We need to ensure protections, benefits, and basic rights for workers at Foster Farms and beyond. And we need to invest in education and services so that young people like me can do more to help our families and ourselves.
https://www.fresnobee.com/opinion/readers-opinion/article246009160.html
Air district considers alternatives to open burning of ag waste [Bakersfield Californian]
Almost five years have passed since regional air quality regulators undertook a comprehensive analysis of pollution created by open burning of agricultural waste. What that means, under state law, is that it’s time to do it again. … Market forces, and some say lack of support from policy-makers, led to the shutdown of several biomass plants around the Central Valley. … “Typically, there’s too much orchard waste to be incorporated back into the soil,” Karen Norene Mills, director of legal services for the California Farm Bureau Federation, said by email. … Mills, at the farm federation, said the group sees biomass plants as a strong option but that more such facilities are needed to handle the volume of waste being generated.
‘It’s almost a joke.’ In rural California, Newsom’s gas-powered car ban is a stretch [Sacramento Bee]
… His order comes with significant challenges for rural California and the Central Valley, where many people drive all day for work, not just to commute, and traveling long distances is a necessity. … Concerns about low income and rural areas not having access to charging infrastructure are well-founded, a Sacramento Bee analysis of state data shows. The state will need to make a significant investment if rural or low-income Californians will be able to make the switch to zero-emission vehicles by 2035. … Rural transportation advocates say it’s already challenging to get the state to fund traditional road improvements like new interchanges and passing lanes on rural highways, and they fear they’ll be left behind in the same way as the state expands charging access.
https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/environment/article246032115.html
Opinion: Kings County Farm Bureau: Prop 15 would harm state’s food supply chain [Hanford Sentinel]
… The bill’s proponents claim it will protect California’s residents, farmers and small businesses; this is simply incorrect. … Let’s set aside the travesty Prop 15 is for California’s food supply chain and consider the implications to the rest of the economy. … If this wasn’t enough, the impacts on local governments are tremendous. … Proposition 15 is a tax on life’s fundamentals. Do not approve a proposition adding to the tax bill in California. We live in the best state in the nation; let’s keep it that way by voting no on Proposition 15 this November.
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